Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2007  with  funding  from 
.  IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/addressonlifechaOOwateiala 


^^^^-/-^  t^<x^     J^;;^^^^^^/^^?^^'-^^^^ 


^2>7S3'g<^o 


ADDRESS 


ON  THE  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF 


THOMAS    SHERWIN, 


BY 


WATERSTON, 
» •  • 


DEStilVERKD     mJE  B  RTJ -A.Ii  Y     16,     1  8  7  O  , 


BEFORE  THE 


ENGLISH  HIGH  SCHOOL  ASSOCIATION. 


^mbirs  of  i^it  Bd^aal  §oarb, 


AND  TEACHERS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  OF  BOSTON. 


BOSTON : 

ALFRED  MUDGE  &  SON,  PRINTERS,  34  SCHOOL  STREET. 
1870. 


U.      ^3/t^z,^pC4't!^^ 


CITY     OP    BOSTON. 


In  School  Committee,  March  8,  1870. 

Ordered,  That  twelve  hundred  copies  of  Mr.  "NVaterston's  Eulogy 

on  Thomas  Sherwin,  late  head-master  of  the  English  High  School, 

delivered  before  the  English  High  School  Association,  be  printed 

for  the  use  of  this  Board,  and  for  distribution  among  the  teachers 

of  the  High  and  Grammar  Schools. 

Attest : 

BARNARD  CAPEN, 

Secretary. 


ENGLISH   HIGH  SCHOOL   ASSOCIATION. 


,  Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  English  High  School 
Association  be  hereby  tendered  b}-  the  government  to  the 
Rev.  R.  C.  Waterstou  for  his  able  and  eloquent  address  on  tlie 
life  and  character  of  Thomas  Sherwin,  in  the  beauty  and  truth 
of  which  we  shall  always  recognize  the  most  valued  memorial  of 
our  departed  teacher. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  the  address  be  requested  for  publica- 
tion. 

WM.  H.  MORIARTY, 

Secretary. 
.March  9,  1870. 


***  A  paper  was  also  received  requesting  that  the  Address 
should  be  printed,  signed  by  the  Masters  of  the  High  and  Grammar 
Schools  of  the  city,  dated  March  7   1870. 


f^e  Pembirs  of  i^t  St^ool  ^oarJ>; 

THE    GRADUATES 
OF    THE    HIGH    SCHOOL; 

AND 

INSTRUCTORS  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  OF  BOSTON 
THIS    RECORD 

OF 

A     BELOVED     AND     FAITHFUL     TEACHER 

IS 

KE  SPECTFULLY 
DEDICATED. 


The  following  address,  prepared  at  the  request  of  the  English 
High  School  Association,  was  delivered  in  the  Horticultural  Hall, 
on  the  evening  of  the  16th  of  February,  1870,  before  a  large  audi- 
ence, among  whom  were  the  members  of  the  School  Committee  and 
both  branches  of  the  City  Government,  the  teachers  of  the  public 
schools  of  Boston,  and  a  large  number  of  the  past  graduates  of  the 
English  High  School.  The  platform  was  adorned  with  azaleas  and 
other  plants,  generously  contributed  by  Mr.  Sherwin's  early  friend, 
Marshall  P.  Wilder.  A  fine  portrait  of  Mr.  Sherwin  was  also 
beautifully  decorated  with  flowers.  On  the  platform  around  the 
speaker  were  his  Excellency  Governor  Claflin,  his  Honor  Mayor 
ShurtlefF,  the  Hon.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  the  Hon.  Marshall  P. 
Wilder,  George  B.  Emerson,  John  D.  Philbrick,  a  number  of  the 
college  classmates  of  Mr.  Sherwin,  and  other  distinguished  men. 
Mr.  Gaffield,  the  President  of  the  English  High  School  Associa- 
tion, presided,  and  opened  the  meeting  with  appropriate  remarks. 
Prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  S.  K.  Lotlirop,  D.  D. 

A  quartette  and  chorus  from  Mendelssohn  —  "Ye  Sons  of  Israel," 
and  the  "  Chorus  of  Angels,"  from  Costa's  oratorio  of  "Eli"  — 
were  sung  during  the  services  by  a  number  of  the  young  ladies 
from  the  Girls'  High  and  Normal  School,  under  the  direction  of 
Julius  Eichberg.  Both  of  the  selections  were  peculiarly  appropri- 
ate to  the  occasion,  and  were  rendered  with  great  taste  and 
accuracy.    The  services  were  closed  by  a  Benediction. 


A  portion  of  the  address,  as  now  printed,  was  necessarily  omitted 
in  the  delivery^. 


INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS 

BY 

THOMAS     GAFFIELD, 

President  of  the  English  High  School  Association. 


Ladies  and   Gentlemen,  and  Fellow-members  of  the 
English  High  School  Association  : 

We  have  assembled  on  no  ordinary  occasion.  For  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  our  city,  do  we  behold  His  Excel- 
lency the  Governor,  His  Honor  the  Mayor,  the  members  of 
the  government,  and  the  school  committee,  the  able  teachers 
of  our  public  schools,  and  many  of  our  most  distinguished  cit- 
izens, uniting  with  aged  classmates  and  early  and  later  pupils 
in  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  a  beloved  and  hon- 
ored schoolmaster.  As  one  of  those  pupils  of  thirty  years 
ago,  may  I  be  permitted  in  a  word  to  say,  that,  modest  and 
unassuming  as  he  was,  he  yet  realized  the  dignity  and  honor 
of  his  profession,  and  forty  years  and  more  of  faithful  and 
devoted  service  in  educating  the  youth  of  Boston  at  the  En- 
glish High  School,  and  in  moulding  the  characters  of  men, 
who,  in  almost  every  land  on  earth,  have  become  distin- 
guished in  mercantile,  professional  or  political  life,  entitle 


8 

him  to  the  gratitude  of  all  our  fellow-citizens.  His  was  that 
rare  combination  of  the  Christian  gentleman  and  teacher, 
which  not  only  educated  the  minds  of  his  pupils,  and  made 
them  scholars,  but  warmed  their  hearts  and  made  them  men. 

It  was  this,  my  fellow-schoolmates,  which  made  the  fond- 
ness of  school-boy  days  ripen  into  the  friendship  and  love  of 
manhood,  and  gave  us  such  delight  whenever  we  took  his 
hand,  or  heard  his  words,  or  beheld  his  beautiful  face,  which 
grew  more  and  more  into  a  benediction,  as  he  advanced  in 
wisdom  and  goodness  and  years. 

Shall  we  not  appropriately  honor  his  blessed  memory,  as 
the  memorial  committee  have  decided  to  do,  by  embodying 
in  marble  those  strong,  yet  loving  features,  and  placing  them 
within  the  walls  of  the  old  school-house,  or  the  new  one, 
which  ought  soon  to  be  built,  with  a  tablet  inscribed  with 
some  simple  story  of  his  virtues,  to  be  an  inspiration  to  duty 
and  fidelity  to  teachers  and  pupils  in  all  coming  time.  Shall 
we  not  equally  honor  him,  as  we  intend  to  do,  by  raising 
a  fund  to  establish  a  Sherwin  scholarship  in  the  Institute  of 
Technology,  in  whose  foundation  he  took  the  warmest  inter- 
est, and  for  whose  subsequent  and  remarkably  successful 
growth  he  labored  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

It  is  most  fitting  that  the  young  ladies  of  the  Girls'  High 
and  Normal  School,  who  themselves  have  mourned  the  de- 
parture of  an  honored  teacher,  should  come  this  evening,  as 
it  were,  to  shed  a  tear  and  chant  a  requiem  over  the  fresher 
grave  of  our  sainted  friend. 

And  it  is  well  that  we  should  all,  honored  rulers  and  mer- 


9 

chants,  teachers  and  pupils,  fellow-townsmen  and  friends, 
spend  together  a  quiet  evening  hour  in  listening  to  the  story 
of  an  earthly  life,  which  began  in  cheerful  industry,  continued 
for  threescore  years  and  ten  in  active  Christian  usefulness, 
and  then  —  as  we  all  remember,  at  the  close  of  a  lovely  sum- 
mer day,  when  the  sun  was  sinking  beneath  the  horizon,  and 
casting  its  glorious  light  behind  —  passed  on,  gently  and 
peacefully  blending  with  the  life  of  the  angels  above,  to  send 
back  to  the  eye  of  spiritual  vision,  from  day  to  day,  its 
radiance  of  heavenly  beauty  for  countless  years  to  come. 
That  we  may  have  a  fitting  memorial  of  such  a  life,  your 
committee  have  invited  to  address  us  this  evening  one  of 
the  most  accomplished  graduates  of  our  school,  one  who 
truly  loved  Mr.  Sherwin,  as  we  all  loved  him,  and  who 
has  poured  his  whole  soul  into  his  tribute  of  reverence 
and  affection.  How  well  he  knew  him,  how  much  he 
loved  him,  and  how  much  his  love  and  reverence  were  deep- 
ened by  the  study  of  the  early  and  later  life  of  our  honored 
teacher,  we  shall  all  realize  when  we  listen  to  his  words, 
from  which  I  will  no  longer  detain  you.  I  have  the  pleasure 
of  introducing  to  you  the  Rev.  R.  C.  Waterston,  a  member 
of  the  graduating  class  of  1828. 


ADDRESS. 


Amoxg  the  teachers  of  New  England,  probably  no 
one  was  more  truly  beloved  and  honored  than  Thomas 
Sherwin.  This  was  not  owmg  to  any  effort  on  his 
part  to  attract  observation,  for,  in  the  most  unobtru- 
sive manner,  he  devoted  himself  to  his  special  duties ; 
neither  was  it  the  result  of  any  one  quality,  developed 
in  an  inordinate  degree;  rather  did  it  proceed  from 
that  remarkable  completeness  of  character,  and  that 
well-adjusted  balance  of  all  his  powers,  which  gave 
symmetry  and  beauty  to  his  whole  moral  and  intel- 
lectual nature;  combined  with  which,  he  united  widely 
gathered  knowledge,  a  thorough  mastery  of  whatever 
subject  he  had  investigated,  and  the  conscientious  use 
of  all  he  was,  and  all  he  knew,  for  the  advantage  of 
others.  These  traits,  with  his  unselfish  disposition 
and  genial  spirit,  won  for  him  universal  regard,  and 
made  him,  as  competent  judges  on  every  side  agreed, 
one  of  the  leading  educators  of  his  time, —  a  worthy 
model  for  the  encouragement  and  emulation  of  all 
progressive  minds. 

Natural  it  is  that  every  teacher  should  feel  an  lion- 


12 

est  pride  in  the  thought  of  him.  Such  a  man  enno- 
bles and  elevates  the  profession  to  which  he  belongs. 
The  whole  community  of  which  he  is  a  part  is  a 
sharer  in  his  acquirements.  Justice  demands  that 
we  should  give  expression  to  the  respect  we  cherish. 
The  places  which  once  knew  him,  know  him  no 
more;  yet  will  his  memory  give  new  sanctity  to 
those  duties  to  which  he  consecrated  his  life,  ^ot 
to  eulogize  with  exaggerated  praise,  but  to  consider 
the  simple  truth,  have  we  come  together.  A  life  like 
his  needs  only  to  be  seen  as  it  really  was.  A  career 
so  identified  with  quiet  duty,  cannot,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  present  startling  facts;  yet  events,  however 
unpretending,  and  though  in  some  degree  familiar, 
will  not  be  wholly  devoid  of  interest,  associated  as 
they  are  with  the  history  and  des^elopment  of  such  a 
character. 

Thomas  Sherwin  was  born  on  the  26th  of  March, 
1799,  at  Westmoreland,  a  lovely  region  on  the  banks 
of  the  Connecticut,  where  the  hills  of  l^ew  Hamp- 
shire recognize,  over  the  placid  river,  the  distant 
mountains  of  Yermont.  He  was  the  only  son  of 
David  and  Hannah  Sherwin;  (his  mother's  maiden 
name  was  Pritchard),  they  were  both  natives  of  Box- 
ford,  Massachusetts.  His  father  was  originally  a 
farmer;   later   in   life   he  commenced  business,  but 


13 

through  the  dishonesty  of  his  partner  he  was  soon 
left  with  but  slight  means  for  the  support  of  his 
family. 

Before  Thomas  was  four  years  of  age,  his  parents 
removed  to  ^ew  Ipswich,  and  soon  after  to  the  ad- 
joining town  of  Temple.  At  the  age  of  seven  and  a 
half,  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his  mother,  who 
died  of  consumption.  In  March,  1807,  he  went  to 
reside  with  his  relative.  Dr.  James  Crombie,  a  man 
of  professional  skill,  and  highly  respected. 

At  that  time,  boys  were  required  to  make  them- 
selves useful.  Thomas  did  this  by  working  in  the 
garden,  taking  care  of  the  farm  stock,  sometimes 
going  in  search  of  cattle  who  had  strayed  far  into  the 
woods,  where,  in  that  part  of  the  country,  it  was 
then  not  unfrequent  to  encounter  bears  and  other 
wild  beasts,  whose  acquaintance  boys  generally 
would  not  be  over-pleased  to  make  under  such  cir- 
cumstances. He  frequently  accompanied  the  doctor 
on  his  round  of  professional  visits,  and  must  have 
gathered  some  knowledge  of  medicine  and  surgery. 
Dr.  Crombie  was  a  practitioner  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary ability.  Mention  is  made  of  his  success  in  the 
difficult  ligature  of  an  artery,  considered  at  that  time 
remarkable.  On  one  occasion,  a  man  was  brought  to 
the  house  with  a  dislocated  arm;  the  doctor  being 


u 

absent,  Thomas,  then  quite  a  youth,  put  the  arm  in 
its  place.  Through  after  hfe,  Mr.  Sherwin,  in  a  play- 
ful way,  would  smilingly  recall  this  fact  as  an  evi- 
dence of  early  professional  skill !  He  remained  with 
Dr.  Crombie  six  years,  —  from  the  age  of  eight  to 
fourteen,  —  generally  going  to  the  district  school 
through  several  weeks  of  the  winter,  attending,  one 
season,  a  school  taught  by  his  sister.  For  a  short 
period,  he  also  received  instruction  at  the  house  of 
the  Rev.  IS^oah  Miles,  minister  of  Temple,  from  the 
clergyman's  son,  Solomon  P.  Miles,  then  a  student 
at  Dartmouth,  absent  from  college  on  account  of  ill 
health.  It  is  interesting  to  recall  the  youthful  in- 
structor and  his  young  pupil,  and  to  remember  that 
both  were  to  be  identified,  through  after  years,  with 
the  best  days  in  the  history  of  the  English  High 
School.  "What  a  gratification  it  would  have  been 
to  that  student  from  Dartmouth,*  could  he  have  an- 
ticipated the  events  of  the  future,  and  have  known 
how  widely  useful  the  lad  before  him  was  destined 
to  become.  But,  though  he  could  not  foresee  what 
we  now  know,  it  is  a  pleasant  glimpse  which  is  given 
to  us  of  the  young  teacher  during  that  college  vaca- 
tion, and  the  lad  coming  from  the  village  physician, 


♦  Mr.  Miles,  though  at  that  time  connected  with  Dartmouth,  afterwards 
'^tered  Harvard  College,  from  which  he  graduated  with  honor,  in  1819. 


15 

to  pick  up  what  little  instruction  he  might  find. 
Seeds  were  then  scattered  from  which  would  even- 
tually spring  a  prolific  harvest. 

My  mind  goes  back  forty  years,  to  the  time  when 
I  was  a  pupil  in  the  English  High  School,  under 
Mr.  Miles.  The  thought  of  his  attractive  aspect, 
refined  and  gentlemanly  manners,  and  thorough 
scholarship,  —  all  of  which  won  the  honor  and  love 
of  those  who  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  his  instruc- 
tions,—  awaken  the  conviction  that  even  the  brief 
period  that  Thomas  Sherwin  was  under  his  influence, 
in  the  town  of  Temple,  probably  produced  a  lasting 
impression  upon  his  whole  after  career. 

But  it  was  not  chiefly  what  was  learned  at  school 
that  constituted  the  proper  education  of  this  part  of 
Thomas  Sherwin's  experience. 

Practical  life,  with  all  its  activities,  was  to  him 
education.  Working  in  the  garden,  upon  the  farm, 
taking  care  of  the  cattle,  carrying  messages,  attend- 
ing to  matters  of  business  in  the  workshop  and  mar- 
ket, compounding  medicines,  and  dealing  them  out 
from  the  doctor's  office;  at  other  times  in  the  sad- 
dle, riding  over  the  circuit  of  towns,  collecting  debts, 
all  this,  in  a  thousand  ways,  expanded  the  youthful 
powers,  enlarged  his  stock  of  knowledge,  and  gave 
an   ability  to  use,  to  the  best   advantage,  whatever 


16 

information  was  acquired.  Actual  life  was  a  school 
for  him.  The  characters  of  the  young  and  the  old 
were  to  him  a  study.  Work  had  a  meaning.  Spright- 
ly and  vigorous,  he  was  ready  for  any  duty. 

Added  to  this,  he  was  in  the  midst  of  J^ature,  — 
open  fields,  meadows,  and  hills ;  the  brook  and  the 
river;  the  forest,  and  the  over-arching  heavens;  with 
all  the  phenomena  of  day  and  night,  and  changing 
seasons,  —  these  were  a  perpetual  resource,  demand- 
ing of  him  observation  and  study.  The  brown  thrush, 
the  blue  jay,  the  red-breasted  robin,  each  had  some 
story  for  him.  The  scarlet  tanager  he  would  watch, 
in  the  month  of  May,  glancing  like  a  flash  of  light 
through  the  forest.  For  his  eye,  the  oriole  hung  her 
nest,  and  the  gossiping  bobolink  filled  the  summer 
air  with  its  merry  warblings.  All  their  habits  and 
customs  became  familiar,  while  they  were  dear  to  his 
heart  as  cherished  friends.  So,  also,  for  him,  through 
the  whole  vegetable  world,  every  leaf  and  plant  won 
his  notice,  from  the  blue  gentian  and  delicate  anem- 
one of  spring,  to  the  cardinal  flower,  like  a  floating 
flame,  and  the  aster,  and  the  golden  rod  of  autumn. 
The  thin-leafed  willow,  the  twisted  oak,  and  the  tower- 
ing pine,  with  their  varied  characteristics,  appealed  not 
in  vain  to  his  observant  eye.  Natural  science,  not 
in  books,  but  as  God  made  it,  he  saw  and  studied. 


17 

Follow  him  in  thought  through  the  lonely  pasture 
and  over  the  open  hill.  See  him  threading  the  b  anks 
of  the  stream,  or  standing  under  the  shadow  of 
o'er-spreading  trees.  All  these  objects,  with  their 
marvellous  revelations  and  hidden  mysteries,  their 
developments  and  laws,  offered  unnumbered  sugges- 
tions to  his  thoughtful  mind. 

So,  also,  with  this  rural  life  was  connected  simplic- 
ity of  living,  haiTly  habits,  self-reliance,  and  frugality. 
Can  we  say  how  much  of  that  sturdy  vigor  and 
manly  perseverance  which  distinguished  his  after  life 
had  here  their  origin?  How  much  that  love  for  every 
created  thing — from  the  smallest  atom  to  the  rolling 
spheres  —  here  dawned  into  being?  How  many  of 
those  beautiful  tastes,  pure  affections,  and  heavenly 
aspirations  of  his  soul  were  here  kindled  ?  Certain 
it  is  that,  to  his  latest  moment,  he  was  partial  to  a 
country  life;  and  natural  science,  which  to  him  pre- 
sented always  the  most  powerful  attractions,  was 
identified,  to  a  great  degree,  with  the  actual  objects 
he  had  loved  to  observe  and  study  from  his  youth. 

Doubtless  the  larger  culture  which  he  observed  in 
Dr.  Crombie,  compared  with  the  average  information 
possessed  by  the  people  around,  impressed  the  idea 
of  that  mental  superiority  which  comes  with  knowl- 
edge.    The  very  fact  that  he  was  in  the  presence  of 


18 

a  more  commanding  intellect,  caused  him  to  be 
dissatisfied  with  whatever  was  narrow  and  superfi- 
cial. He,  also,  must  acquire.  "What  barrier  should 
be  strong  enough  inexorably  to  prevent  his  progress  ? 
And  yet  there  were  impediments.  How  could  the 
requisite  opportunities  come  to  him?  Alas,  impossi- 
ble !  so  it  naturally  appeared. 

After  he  left  Dr.  Crombie's,  the  father,  to  satisfy 
this  strong  desire  for  knowledge  on  the  part  of  his 
son,  sent  him  to  the  Ipswich  Academy,  —  the  same 
institution  which  has  since  been  endowed  by  the 
Appleton  family,  and  which  now  bears  their  name. 
As  might  be  expected,  he  went  to  his  studies  with 
a  hearty  will;  but,  while  the  formal  routine  of  those 
days  did  liot  answer  the  demands  of  his  nature,  yet 
even  that  he  could  not  long  continue  to  enjoy.  Press- 
ing need  called  for  practical  labor.  Gladly  would 
the  father  have  offered  his  son  every  possible  advan- 
tage ;  but  his  little  property  had  been  swept  away, 
there  were  five  daughters  to  be  cared  for,  and  the  son 
must  work.  Feeling  that  this  was  right,  with  a 
cheerful  heart  he  entered  upon  his  task. 

At  Groton,  in  September,  1813,  he  was  apprenticed 
to  the  clothier's  trade.  The  country  was  at  war 
with  Great  Britain,  and  hence  the  usual  supply  of 
foreign  cloths  was  cut  off.     Woollen  mills,  as  they 


19 

now  existjWere  unknown  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
fabrics  were  made  at  the  domestic  loom;  after  which 
they  were  sent  elsewhere  for  fulling,  dyeing,  and 
dressing.  Thomas  was  expected  to  prepare  the  dye- 
stuffs,  keep  up  the  fires,  watch  the  machinery,  a  con- 
stant and  laborious  work.  He  speaks  of  it  as  "  cloth- 
dressing,  wool-carding,  etc.,  with  Messrs.  Samuel  & 
Sewell  Rockwood."  I  quote  from  a  manuscript  in 
his  own  handwriting:  "Working  intensely  in  the 
autumn  and  winter,  moderately  in  summer,  and  at- 
tending school  for  about  two  months  annually  in 
spring." 

Unwillingness  to  toil  was  no  part  of  his  nature. 
Manual  labor,  pursued  with  a  right  spirit,  was  to  him 
no  degradation.  That  was  honorable  which  subserved 
high  ends.  Usefulness  to  others  and  self-indepen- 
dence were  to  him  worthy  objects.  Whatever  tended 
to  develop  the  great  industrial  resources  of  a  country 
was  always,  to  his  mind,  a  matter  of  real  interest,  and 
the  part  which  any  individual  took  in  it  was  to  that 
degree  praiseworthy.  These  feelings  never  forsook 
him.  Laboring  men,  in  proportion  to  their  integrity, 
were  always  sure  of  his  regard.  Labor  to  him  was 
never  drudgery,  for  he  united  with  it  intellect.  He 
was  all  observation;  means  and  methods,  cause  and 
effect,  materials,  tissues,  fabrics,  growth  and  develop- 


20 

ment, — all  these,  with  quick  intelligence,  became  sub- 
jects of  thought.  This,  also,  was  education,  direct 
and  practical ;  and,  beyond  doubt,  not  time  wasted, 
but  through  life  to  be  of  the  greatest  advantage. 

Is  it  not  possible  that  many  may  undervalue  the 
uses  of  practical  labor  in  connection  with  the  process 
of  education?  It  was  the  custom  among  the  ancient 
Hebrews  to  teach  all  boys  a  trade;  each  one  who 
received  Rabbinical  culture,  in  conjunction  with  his 
other  studies,  was  obliged  to  learn  some  handicraft. 
Thus  bodily  exercise  was  combined  with  mental  effort, 
and  the  means  of  an  honorable  independence  secured. 
The  Jews  habitually  trained  their  sons  to  some  use- 
ful employment  as  an  indispensable  part  of  their 
education.  In  the  Talmud  it  is  written,  "  The  wise 
practice  some  of  the  arts,  lest  they  should  become 
dependent  upon  the  charities  of  others."  Eabbi  Ju- 
dah  saith:  "He  that  teacheth  not  his  son  a  trade, 
doth  the  same  as  if  he  taught  him  to  be  a  thief." 
Thus  Paul  himself  was  taught;  and  at  Corinth,  the 
most  luxurious  city  of  Greece,  the  Apostle,  as  we  well 
know,  continued  for  a  year  and  a  half  laboring  at  his 
trade.  So  far  from  being  ashamed  of  such  toil,  he 
gloried  in  it.  He  felt  that  this  work  was  in  him  as 
honorable  as  preaching  upon  Mars  Hill,  or  writing 
epistles  to  the  churches. 


21 

It  may  be  questioned  whether  great  advantage 
might  not  result  if  some  participation  in  useful  labor 
were  combined  with  intellectual  studies;  if,  in  our 
schools  and  colleges,  there  were  opportunities  for  in- 
dustrial employments  which  would  develop  the  phys- 
ical powers,  call  forth  inventive  genius,  and  give  a 
healthy  discipline  to  both  body  and  mind.  It  was  a 
wise  Spartan  precept  that  "  the  child  should  be  in- 
structed in  the  arts  which  will  be  useful  to  the  man." 
And  Milton  said,  "  I  call  that  a  complete  and  gener- 
ous education  which  jBts  a  man  to  perform  justly, 
skilfully,  and  magnanimously  all  the  offices,  private 
and  public,  of  peace  and  war." 

Such  was  the  education,  not  in  the  school,  but  out 
of  it,  that  Providence  provided  for  Thomas  Sherwin. 
By  it  he  gained  an  experience  he  could  never  have 
extracted  from  books.  !N^othing  effeminate,  but  a 
strong,  courageous  manliness  was  to  come  from 
such  discipline. 

I  have  made  inquiries  of  those  who  knew  him  at 
this  period,  and  will  offer  extracts  from  one  or  two 
communications. 

The  first  is  a  letter  from  Groton,  by  Mrs.  Eliza 
Green,  the  honored  mother  of  our  resj)ected  towns- 
man. Dr.  Samuel  A.  Green.  She  says:  "He  was  re- 
fined in  all  his  tastes,  and  never  spent  an  idle  moment. 


22 

He  often  worked  at  the  mill  until  after  ten  o'clock  at 
night,  and  would  then  read  and  study  for  an  hour 
or  two.  He  was  always  at  church,  to  which  he  walked 
three  miles." 

The  following  extract  is  from  a  letter  addressed  to 
me  by  Capt.  E-ockwood,  a  brother  of  the  Eockwoods 
with  whom  he  served  his  time.  He  says:  "After 
the  lapse  of  over  half  a  century,  and  at  my  advanced 
age,  many  things  respecting  Thomas  Sherwin  may 
have  escaped  my  recollection,  but  some  things  I  re- 
member perfectly  well.  His  father  came  with  him 
to  have  him  apprenticed  until  he  should  arrive  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years.  He  desired  to  get  an  edu- 
cation; but  his  father  told  him  all  he  could  do  for 
him  was  to  give  him  a  trade,  and  he  submitted  with- 
out a  murmur.  An  apprentice  at  that  time  was  to  be 
taught  all  parts  belonging  to  the  trade ;  in  this  case, 
to  take  a  piece  of  raw  cloth  from  the  loom,  color 
and  dress  it  ready  for  the  market.  His  work  was 
quite  varied,  as  there  were  many  parts  belonging  to 
the  trade.  He  was  to  have  a  certain  amount  of 
schooling,  and  be  taught  in  arithmetic  as  far  as  the 
rule  of  three,  if  he  should  be  capable  of  learning  so 
far !  He  was  to  have  his  board  and  clothing,  which, 
with  his  trade,  would  be  all  he  would  receive.  With 
a  judgment  far  superior  to  those  of  his  years,  he 


23 

soon  gained  the  esteem  of  his  employers,  and  was 
looked  upon  with  perfect  confidence,  which  he  never 
betrayed. 

"  There  was  no  boy  about  him,  —  he  was  a  mak. 
He  was  of  a  contemplative  mind,  exercising  his 
own  judgment,  and  was  never  indolent.  His  idol,  if 
he  had  one,  was  his  Book.  He  always  had  some 
volume  in  his  pocket,  or  where  he  could  lay  his  hand 
upon  it.  But,  though  interested  in  books,  he  never 
neglected  his  work.  While  engaged  with  the  ma- 
chinery, he  would  sometimes  have  a  few  moments  to 
himself,  which  he  always  improved  in  study.  In 
this  way  he  mastered  the  Latin  grammar.  Fre- 
quently he  kept  a  fellow  apprentice  awake  to  hear 
him  recite.  He  usually  had  to  work  until  ten  or 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  winter  evenings,  and  after 
going  to  bed  he  would  study  an  hour  or  two.  In 
this  way  he  acquired  much  of  his  education. 

*•  Being  a  good  penman,  he  was  frequently  em- 
ployed to  copy  records  and  other  instruments ;  in  this 
way  he  obtained,  from  time  to  time,  a  little  money, 
which  he  would  lay  out  in  books.  He  set  a  high  stan- 
dard for  himself;  how  far  he  attained  it  his  life  shows. 

"  Perhaps  you  may  say  I  have  given  a  partial  view 
of  his  character,  that  there  might  have  been  traits  not 
so  lovely.     I  was  most  intimately  acquainted   with 


24 

him,  both  in  the  family  and  the  shop ;  and  during  our 
acquaintance,  I  never  heard  him  slander  any  one,  or 
use  a  profane  word,  or  tell  an  untruth." 

I  have  received  another  communication  from  a 
cousin  of  the  Rockwoods,  who  remembers  distinctly 
his  life  at  that  time. 

"I  recollect,"  she  says,  "on  visiting  the  family  in 
August,  I  was  asked  to  go  out  and  see  Thomas's  gar- 
den. He  had  selected  a  position  the  best  adapted 
for  the  purpose,  and  had  worked  extra  hours  upon  it. 
His  vegetables  were  abundant,  and  of  the  best  qual- 
ity. He  sold  nothing,  and  all  he  raised  he  gave 
away. 

"  The  District  school  was  taught  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Farnsworth,  who  told  me  that  Sherwin  was  marked 
out  for  a  scholar.  When  he  was  visiting  in  the  fam- 
ily, allusion  was  made  to  Mr.  Cummings,  who  went 
from  the  Clothiers  Mill  to  College.*  Thomas  was 
much  excited,  and  asked  all  manner  of  questions  re- 
lating to  Cummings  and  his  course.  Mr.  Farnsworth 
said,  ^  Tom  Sherwin,  will  go  there  too ! '  " 

These  statements  plainly  show  his  characteristics 
at   that   time;     industry,  love    of    knowledge,    and 


*  Mr.  Cummings  was  a  graduate  from  Cambridge  in  1801,  and  after- 
wards became  an  extensive  publisher,  of  the  well-known  firm  of  Messrs. 
Cummings  &  Hilliard. 


25 

reverence  for  truth.  In  spite  of  every  obstacle, 
he  was  always  pre-eminent,  often  putting  questions 
which  the  teachers  could  not  answer,  and  puzzling  his 
way  in  advance  of  their  knowledge. 

It  required  no  superhuman  power  to  predict  that 
such  a  mind  would  triumph  over  every  impediment. 

Aspirations  for  a  collegiate  education  grew  more 
and  more  strong,  until  his  determination  became 
an  absorbing  motive.  He  had  commenced  his  ap- 
prenticeship at  Groton,  in  1813.  He  continued  at  his 
employment  six  years,  when,  in  his  twentieth  year, 
another  person  took  his  place  in  the  mill ;  from  which 
period  he  devoted  his  whole  time  to  study.  "  My 
father,"  he  says,  "  proposed  to  assist  me  according  to 
his  means ;  but  as  he  had  a  sufficiently  hard  task  to 
sujjport  his  daughters,  I  chose  to  work  through  my 
apprenticeship,  and  rely  upon  my  own  efforts  for  an 
education.     This  resolution  I  have  never  regretted." 

During  the  winter  of  1819,  he  taught  a  district 
school  in  Harvard;  in  April  1820,  he  entered  the  acad- 
emy at  Groton.  "  The  following  March"  (he  says,  in  a 
manuscript  from  which  I  quote),"I  went  to  'New  Ipswich 
academy,  where  I  continued  until  I  entered  college, 
in  1821.  I  thus  had  fifteen  or  sixteen  months  for  pre- 
paratory study.  Within  that  time,  I  lost  six  or  eight 
weeks  by  a  fever,  and  taught  the  Central  School  in 


26 

Groton  for  three  months.  It  is  needless  to  say,"  he 
modestly  adds, "  that  my  qualifications  for  college  were 
quite  meagre,  especially  as  my  teachers  were  unable 
to  render  any  efficient  aid  in  case  of  difficulty."  In 
1821,  he  passed  honorably  his  examination,  and  be- 
came a  member  of  Harvard  University.  While  an 
undergraduate,  to  defray  his  expenses,  he  taught 
school  one  winter  in  Groton,  one  in  Leominster,  and 
in  1825  he  took  charge  of  the  academy  in  Lexington. 
Thus  was  he  unconsciously  preparing  himself,  in  the 
best  possible  manner,  for  the  work  in  which,  through 
after  life,  he  was  to  become  distinguished.  The  same 
characteristics  which  were  perceptible  afterwards 
were  noticeable  here;  fertile  in  expedients,  in  one 
instance,  wishing  to  teach  astronomy,  he  constructed 
with  his  own  hands  a  globe.  During  this  time,  as 
subsequently,  he  drew  the  young  about  him  with 
aflfection,  and  was  remembered  by  them  ever  after 
with  lasting  gratitude. 

I  have  a  letter  from  Mr.  A.  F.  Lawrence,  of  Gro- 
ton, who  knew  him  at  the  mill  and  in  college.  I  will 
extract  but  one  paragraph.  He  says:  "  Our  acquain- 
tance ripened  into  lasting  friendship.  "While  at  the 
academy,  he  and  I  constituted  a  class  (if  two  may  be 
called  a  class)  in  natural  philosophy,  geometry, 
trigonometry,  surveying,  and  astronomy.    We  were 


27 

much  together  in  the  social  circle  and  elsewhere. 
His  tastes,  habits,  and  principles,  in  boyhood  and 
early  manhood,  were  the  prototype  of  his  future  life 
and  character." 

At  college,  in  a  class  which  included  men  of 
marked  ability,  among  whom  were  Rev.  Francis  Cun- 
ningham, the  Hon.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Admiral 
Davis,  Kev.  Dr.  Hedge,  Rev.  Dr.  Lothrop,  Dr.  Augus- 
tus A.  Gould,  Allen  Putnam,  C.  K.  Dilloway,  and 
Judge  Ames,  it  was  something  that  he  could  sustain 
himself,  with  the  credit  which  he  did,  and  that  he  ac- 
tually graduated  among  the  ten  best  scholars  of  his 
class.  Mr.  Sherwin  was  a  room-mate  with  Augustus 
A.  Gould,  afterwards  so  widely  known  both  as  a 
Physician  and  IS^aturalist,  and  their  friendship 
continued  through  life.  They  both  came  from 
JSTew  Ipswich,  country  boys,  simple  and  unso- 
phisticated, with  a  determination  to  acquire  the 
knowledge  for  which  they  came.  Sherwin,  to  help 
himself  in  his  way  through  college,  held  the  position 
of  what  was  then  known  as  "  Regent's  Freshman." 
Among  the  services  required  of  him  was  ringing  the 
college  bell  for  morning  and  evening  prayers,  with 
other  duties  of  a  similar  character. 

During  his  college  course  he  had  a  severe  illness, 
from  which  his   classmates   never  expected  him  to 


28 

recover.  His  friend,  Allen  Putnam,  watched  by  his 
bedside  day  and  night,  leaving  nothing  undone  in 
his  ministrations  of  love;  and  perhaps  we  all  owe  to 
that  tender  care  the  years  of  usefulness  which  have 
followed.  Mr.  Sherwin  never  ceased  to  remember 
with  gratitude  that  watchfulness,  and  their  con- 
tinued friendship  was  one  of  the  treasured  facts  of 
his  life.  On  the  most  critical  night,  when  the  dis- 
ease was  at  its  height,  Putnam  was  watching  by  his 
side,  with  eyes  fixed  upon  his  friend.  "Why  do 
you  look  so  earnestly  at  me,"  said  Sherwin ;  "  do 
you  fear  that  I  shall  not  recover?  Perhaps  I  shall 
not;  but,  either  way  "  (he  continued,  with  perfect 
tranquillity),  "  it  will  be  all  right." 

I  have  received  a  communication  from  his  class- 
mate, C.  K.  Dilloway,  from  which  I  gladly  extract 
the  following:  — 

"  Sherwin  entered  college  older  than  the  rest  of  us, 
and  had  all  the  characteristics  of  mature  life.  He 
went  there  to  gain  an  education  by  hard  study,  and 
nobly  did  he  do  it.  As  a  mathematical  scholar,  he 
had  no  superior  in  the  class.  In  the  classics,  though 
laboring  under  the  disadvantage  of  a  brief  and  im- 
perfect preparation  for  college,  he  managed  to  keep 
himself  among  the  foremost  scholars;  and  this  in  a 
class  somewhat  distinguished  for  mathematical  and 


29 

classical  proficiency.  His  social  qualities  were  such 
as  would  naturally  make  him  popular  and  respected. 
He  was  independent  in  the  expression  of  his  opin- 
ions, and  firm  in  his  opposition  to  anything  like  a 
violation  of  college  discipline.  Our  class  had  its  full 
share  of  young  men  of  mischievous  tendency,  whose 
influence,  even  over  well-disposed  members,  was 
great.  Sherwin  turned  from  these,  and  cautioned 
us  against  them.  His  prudent  counsels  saved 
us  from  many  a  foolish  enterprise  and  its  con- 
sequent penalties.  He  was  one  of  the  most  indus- 
trious men  in  the  class,  and  had  as  little  unemployed 
time  as  any  man  I  ever  knew.  He  worked,  on  an 
average,  sixteen  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four.  Sher- 
win was  then,  as  he  was  always  after,  a  progressive 
man,  —  each  year  of  his  life  seeming  better  than  its 
predecessor." 

This  testimony  of  his  college-days  is  in  harmony 
with  all  I  have  been  able  to  gather  from  his  various 
classmates  now  living,  and  all  who  knew  him.  "We 
see  the  same  solid  sense  and  sterling  integrity.  He 
was,  throughout,  methodical  and  persevering,  pos- 
sessing a  character  of  such  lucid  purity  that  in  h^m 
there  was  actually  nothing  one  would  wish  to  forget. 
It  is  stated  by  those  who  knew  him  during  his  col- 
lege studies,  as  well  as  in  his  earlier  days  and  through 


30 

after  years,  that  they  never  heard  him  use  an  epithet 
or  repeat  a  story  which  could  suggest  an  unworthy 
thought. 

He  graduated  with  honor  in  1825.  The  college 
government,  in  1827,  gave  proof  of  the  high  estima- 
tion in  which  he  was  held  by  appointing  him  tutor 
of  mathematics.  This  office  he  filled  acceptably  for 
one  year;  when,  though  urged  to  retain  it,  he  relin- 
quished it  for  other  pursuits. 

A  quarter  of  a  century  after,  each  member  of  the 
class  to  which  he  belonged  gave  an  account  in  writ- 
ing of  what  he  had  been  doing  in  that  time.  These 
papers  were  read  at  the  class-meeting,  July,  1850. 

The  manuscript,  wiitten  by  Mr.  Sherwin,  is  before 
me,  and  I  quote  his  own  words :  "  The  year  subse- 
quent to  leaving  college,  I  taught  the  academy  at 
Lexington,  and  the  next  year  officiated  as  tutor  in 
mathematics  at  our  Alma  Mater.  My  design  at  that 
time  was  to  become  a  lawyer,  and  for  that  end  I 
read  Blackstone  and  part  of  Coke,  with  Elias  Phin- 
ney,  of  Charlestown;  but  the  prospect  appearing 
rather  barren  for  me,  I  then  chose  engineering, 
which  I  commenced,  in  1827,  with  Col.  Loammi 
Baldwin,  under  whom  I  was  employed  on  the  dry- 
dock  and  other  works,  at  Charles  town  and  at  Ports- 
mouth.    In  September,  1827,  I  commenced  a  survey 


31 

with  Mr.  James  Hay  ward,  for  the  Boston  and 
Providence  raih-oad;  but  having  advanced  as  far  as 
Sharon,  I  was  attacked  by  a  fever,  which  left  me 
with  pulmonary  affections,  and  obliged  me  to  relin- 
quish the  business.  In  December,  1828,  I  opened  a 
private  school  for  boys,  in  Boston,  which,  with  toler- 
able success,  I  continued  for  one  year;  at  the  expi- 
ration of  which  I  was  elected  sub-master  of  the 
English  High  School." 

Thus,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  we  find  him 
still  contending  with,  and  overcoming  difficulties. 
Suddenly,  the  acute  attack  of  fever  threatened  to 
bring  his  career  to  a  speedy  termination.  But,  as 
we  have  seen,  he  was  not  a  person  to  be  easily 
discouraged.  And  now  that  we  can  look  back  upon 
the  space  of  forty  years,  crowded  with  usefulness,  do 
we  not  see  the  hand  of  Providence  directing  him 
into  the  path  he  was  to  follow  ? 

It  is  worthy  of  observation  how  much  he  accom- 
plished by  reasonable  out-of-door  exercise,  and  a 
thoughtful  adaptation  to  physical  laws.  The  con- 
finement of  a  school-room,  with  its  multifarious  obli- 
gations, combined  with  the  sedentary  tendencies  of 
a  student's  life,  would  not  seem  conducive  to  con- 
tinued robust  health  to  one  with  decided  pulmonary 
symptoms ;  yet,  by  his  wise  course  of  life,  he  gained 


32 

the  advantages  of  a  vigorous  constitution,  enjoying, 
in  full  measure,  almost  uninterrupted  health  through 
nearly  half  a  century. 

When  Mr.  Sherwin,  in  1828,  was  elected  sub-mas- 
ter of  the  High  School,  that  institution  was  under  the 
charge  of  S.  P.  Miles.  He,  who  taught  the  country- 
boy  at  the  parsonage,  who  had  been  his  mathematical 
teacher  while  in  College,  was  still  to  be  his  friend 
and  associate.  Through  nine  years  there  was  be- 
tween these  two  an  unbroken  friendship. 

They  were  men  of  a  kindred  spirit,  cheerful  and 
conscientious ',  thorough  scholars,  and  wise  disciplina- 
rians. The  High  School  has  been  greatly  favored  in 
having  been  under  the  guidance  of  two  such  men. 
Indeed,  the  three  head  masters  of  the  English  High 
School  —  George  B.  Emerson,  Solomon  P.  Miles  and 
Thomas  Sherwin — were  all  teachers  of  the  highest  or- 
der. They  were  all  brought  up  in  the  country,  where 
they  were  familiar  with  farming  and  rural  pursuits. 
They  were  alike  teachers  of  district  schools  and  acad- 
emies before  and  after  their  college  course.  They  each 
officiated,  for  a  time,  as  tutors  of  mathematics  and 
natural  philosophy  in  the  University,  while  Mr. 
Sherwin  had  the  additional  advantage  of  learning  a 
trade  before  he  entered  College,  and,  at  least  for  a 
brief  season,  of  acting  as  a  civil  and  naval  engineer 


33 

afterwards.  Multitudes  of  graduates  throughout  the 
country  recall  with  joy  and  gratitude  the  influence 
received  from  these  three  admirable  men. 

Mr.  Miles  resigned  his  office  as  principal  in  1837, 
when  Mr.  Sherwin  was  unanimously  elected  to  fill 
the  place. 

Mr.  Sherwin  was  married,  June  10th,  1836,  to  Mary 
King  Gibbons,  daughter  of  Daniel  L.  and  Mary  Gib- 
bons, of  Boston,  and  it  was  the  general  remark  that 
a  more  beautiful  couple  were  not  to  be  seen  in  the 
whole  Commonwealth.  Certain  it  is  that  a  truer  de- 
votion on  the  part  of  both  to  the  best  interest  and 
highest  happiness  of  each  could  not  be  found.  Gen- 
tle, considerate,  and  thoughtful,  his  excellences  in 
her  were  more  mildly  reflected ;  while,  with  this,  there 
was  united  all  of  his  truthfulness,  aspiration,  and 
goodness.  Happy  in  themselves,  they  helped  to 
make  all  around  them  happy,  and  their  home  be- 
came the  centre  of  Christian  charities,  as  it  was  truly 
the  abode  of  every  Christian  grace. 

For  some  thirty  years  his  residence  was  in  the 
country,  where  his  pleasant  home,  surrounded  by  an 
acre  or  two  of  ground,  cultivated  by  his  own  hand, 
gave  him  refreshment  and  vigor  before  and  after  the 
duties  connected  with  his  school.  "Working  in  the 
field  and  garden  was  always  a  delight  to  him. 


34 

"With  his  love  of  IS^ature,  doubly  endeared  by 
early  associations,  the  country  was  an  unfailing  re- 
source. There  he  found  a  healing  quiet  which  existed 
nowhere  else,  l^ever  were  his  duties  in  the  city 
neglected  or  abridged  to  the  slightest  degree,  rather 
were  they  pursued  with  more  hearty  alacrity. 

As  proof  of  his  resolute  determination,  and  the 
fact  that  living  in  the  country  could  not  keep  him 
from  his  duty,  I  will  mention  the  circumstance  that 
on  a  winter's  morning,  after  one  of  those  old- 
fashioned  snow  storms  which  thoroughly  block  up 
every  avenue,  railroads  were  useless,  and  no  vehi- 
cle, of  any  description,  could  be  obtained  to  bring 
him  to  the  city.  He  was  ten  miles  distant,  but, 
unintimidated,  he  started  on  foot,  beating  his  way 
through  almost  impassable  snow-drifts,  walking  at 
times  upon  the  top  of  stone  walls,  till  at  length  he 
conquered  every  difficulty,  and  was  welcomed  with 
enthusiasm  in  the  midst  of  his  boys. 

The  ability  which  distinguished  Mr.  Sherwin  as  a 
teacher  from  the  beginning,  and  which  suggested  his 
appointment  to  this  eminent  position,  was  manifested 
by  that  increasing  success  which  more  than  justified 
the  most  sanguine  expectation  of  his  friends.  It 
was  the  estimate  of  Mr.  Tillinghast,  Principal  of  the 
Kormal    School,  at  Bridgewater,   that,  next  to  the 


35 

thoroughness  of  "West  Point,  the  Boston  High 
School,  beyond  question,  rnnked  first  in  the  country. 
This  commendation  was  corroborated  by  the  impar- 
tial testimony  of  Mr.  Fraser,  who  was  appointed  in 
England  to  visit  the  schools  of  this  country  and  re- 
port to  the  British  Parliament.  In  his  official  state- 
ment, he  says :  "  Taking  it  for  all  in  all,  and  as 
accomplishing  the  end  at  which  it  professes  to  aim, 
the  English  High  School  struck  me  as  the  model 
school  of  the  United  States.  I  wish,"  he  emphati- 
cally adds,  "  we  had  a  hundred  such  in  England." 

These   expressions   are  in    conformity   with    the 
public  verdict. 

But  Mr.  Sherwin's  influence  was  never  limited  to 
the  school-room.  There  was  a  breadth  of  purpose, 
as  well  as  of  view,  which  always  characterized  him. 
His  interest  in  and  influence  over  other  teachers  was 
remarkable.  Desiring,  in  every  possible  way,  to  pro- 
mote their  welfare,  he  was  prompt  to  engage  in  any 
duty  which  would  difiuse  light.  Thus  was  he  con- 
stantly rendering  valuable  service  to  the  cause  of 
education.  He  was  one  of  the  originators,  in  1830, 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Instruction.  In  1853-4 
he  was  its  President.  At  various  times  he  de- 
livered able  addresses,  and  presented  important 
papers,  while  for  thirty  years  he  was  one  of  its  most 


36 

efficient  working  officers.  So  also  in  the  organization 
of  the  Massachusetts  State  Teachers'  Association, 
he  was  one  of  the  leading  minds  and  most  active 
workers;  being  its  earliest  Vice-President,  and  its 
third  President.  He  read,  on  successive  years,  in- 
structive lectures,  and  was  always  ready  to  perform 
needed  service. 

In  1847,  he  helped  to  establish  "  the  Massachusetts 
Teacher,"  as  an  educational  journal  for  the  advance- 
ment of  sound  learning  and  the  extension  of  the  best 
methods  of  promoting  the  cause  of  education.  He 
was  an  active  member  of  the  publishing  committee, 
was  one  of  the  original  editors,  and  for  a  long  time 
had  charge  of  its  mathematical  department. 

For  the  benefit  of  teachers,  there  was  no  labor  he 
was  not  willing  to  perform.  "  The  legitimate  object 
of  a  teacher's  exertions,"  he  would  say,  "  is  to  make 
mankind  wiser,  purer,  truer,  holier.  To  feel  that  we 
have  rescued  one  individual  from  a  life  of  ignorance 
and  vice,  is  more  true  and  lasting  glory  than  to  have 
worn  a  crown." 

This  was  to  him  no  mere  sound  of  words.  It  was 
the  faith  which  bound  him  to  his  profession,  and 
which  powerfully  attracted  him  to  the  whole  company 
of  teachers  who  were  engaged  in  the  same  calling. 
"  There  exists  between  us,"  he  would  say,  "  a  bond 


37 

of  sympathy  stronger  than  friendship;  we  are  en- 
gaged in  a  common  cause ;  a  cause  second  to  none  in 
importance,  inferior  to  none  in  its  bearing  ,upon  the 
destinies  of  the  world." 

"ISTo  one  who  is  not  willing,"  he  said  to  a  company 
of  instructors,  "  no  one  who  is  not  willing  to  labor 
perseveringly,  and  with  his  whole  might,  should  ever 
desecrate  the  business  of  teaching.  The  great  work 
of  education  is  a  stern  reality.  It  admits  of  no  com- 
promise with  evil,  and  no  sacrifice  of  duty.  It  is 
sublime  and  boundless  as  human  capabilities.  It  is 
well,  therefore,  that  we  strive  to  improve  ourselves  in 
all  that  embellishes  and  strengthens,  in  all  that  puri- 
fies and  extends,  the  sway  we  may  exert." 

Few  could  know  better  than  he  did,  how  arduous 
and  wearing  are  the  duties  of  a  faithful  teacher;  the 
unremitting  exertion,  the  frequent  perplexity,  and  the 
exhausting  care  to  which  he  must  be  subjected;  but 
he  knew,  also,  that  the  desired  result  is  worth  it  all; 
that  there  can  be  no  field  of  duty  bearing  more  di- 
rectly in  its  consequences  upon  the  public  welfare, 
and  that  with  proper  methods  and  a  right  spirit,  the 
burdens  of  the  teacher's  toil  will  be  lightened,  and  his 
mind  cheered,  while  he  will  have  the  unspeakable  sat- 
isfaction of  feeling  that  he  is  fulfilling  the  will  of  God, 
and  becoming,  in  the  truest  sense,  a  benefactor  of 
mankind. 


38 

In  the  language  of  Mr.  Sherwin,  "  It  is  a  great  mis- 
take to  suppose,  because  we  know  more  than  time, 
opportunity,  and  the  capacity  of  our  scholars  will 
enable  us  to  impart,  that  therefore  our  usefulness  is 
not  augmented  by  increasing  our  attainments.  Every 
accession  of  knowledge  will  give  the  teacher  increased 
skill  and  facility  in  imparting  information." 

His  acquired  resources,  "he  must  remould  to  his 
own  mind,  adapting  them  to  his  special  wants  and 
opportunities;  endeavoring  to  make  them  productive 
of  the  greatest  good  in  his  particular  sphere  of  use- 
fulness." 

Deeply  interested  in  children,  and  truly  loving  his 
work,  "  he  should  take  pleasure  in  earnest  endeavors 
to  do  good,  although  the  immediate  fruit  may  not  fully 
answer  his  expectations.  He  should  be  delighted  by 
the  new  acquisitions  which  his  pupils  make,  rather  than 
become  disheartened  by  their  comparative  ignorance; 
he  must  rejoice  at  the  development  of  the  true  and 
the  good  in  their  characters,  rather  than  be  discour- 
aged by  manifestations  of  evil;  and  at  the  close  of 
each  day's  labor,  he  should  be  able  to  console  himself 
for  having  accomplished  so  little,  by  the  conscious- 
ness that  he  has  endeavored  to  do  his  best;  feeling 
confident  that  the  minutest  seed  which  he  has  caused 
to  germinate  may  yet  grow  up  into  a  noble  tree." 


39 

*'  The  teacher,"  he  says,  "  without  losing  a  conscious- 
ness of  his  own  superiority,  should  aim  to  throw  him- 
self as  much  as  possible  into  the  mind  of  the  child,  to 
sympathize  with  him  in  his  emotions  and  his  difficul- 
ties." He  calls  upon  the  teacher  "to  gather  fresh  im- 
pulses to  duty,  new  vigor  and  alacrity;  to  gain  added 
materials  for  illustration,  and  stronger  motives  for 
exertion.  He  who  goes  abroad  with  his  powers  of 
observation  awake  and  active,  will  derive  much  from 
what  he  sees  and  hears  that  will  be  of  advantage  in 
the  instruction  of  others."  All  this,  he  maintains, 
"will  impart  to  the  teacher  new  happiness,  and  es- 
pecially enlarge  his  power  of  usefulness." 

To  enforce  the  importance  of  a  continued  youthful 
vivacity  on  the  part  of  an  instructor,  he  says  that  "  a 
peach-tree  at  Montreuil,  in  France,  was  in  full  bear- 
ing at  the  age  of  fifty  years,  and  capable  of  produ- 
cing annually  ten  or  twelve  bushels  of  fruit.  This 
great  degree  of  vigor  and  longevity  was  efiected, 
he  adds,  by  pruning  away  the  barren  and  cumbrous 
parts,  and  growing,  in  their  stead,  new  and  fertile 
shoots ;  in  fact,  the  whole  secret  consisted  in  keeping 
the  tree  constantly  young.  May  not  a  teacher,  he 
asks,  do  something  analogous;  keeping  himself  con- 
stantly young,  and  in  a  fruit-bearing  condition?"  To 
this  inquiry,  Mr.  Sherwin's  own  life  is  at  once  the 
most  convincing  answer  and  happy  illustration. 


40 

"  The  influence  we  may  and  must  exert,"  he  writes, 
"  either  for  good  or  evil,  is  such  as  to  demand  all 
possible  exertion  to  qualify  ourselves  for  the  faithful 
and  successful  performance  of  our  duties.  The  ripple 
marks  of  the  antediluvian  waves,  the  impress  of  rain- 
drops which  fell  prior  to  the  existence  of  man,  even 
the  foot-prints  of  the  wind,  that  swept  over  the  face 
of  the  uninhabited  waste,  remain  stamped  in  the  ada- 
mantine rock,  and  present  a  meteorological  journal 
almost  as  accurate  as  that  traced  by  the  pen  of  the 
philosopher  within  the  current  year.  So  the  impress 
of  our  exertions,  what  we  teach,  whether  by  precept 
or  example,  our  successes  and  our  failures,  will  be 
transmitted  to  generations,  thousands  of  years  hence, 
and  remain  indelibly  inscribed  upon  the  various  strata 
of  human  life." 

Such  were  his  views  of  the  teacher's  work.  A  call- 
ing which,  as  he  contemplated  it,  was  full  of  grandeur. 
'No  minister  of  the  Gospel  was  more  absolutely  an 
ambassador  of  heaven,  and  the  stateliest  cathedral  in 
Europe  was  not  more  truly  a  temple  of  God,  than  the 
school-room  in  which  he  taught.  His  work  to  him 
was  a  sacred  ministry.  He  commenced  his  labors  each 
morning  in  the  school-room  with  extemporaneous 
prayer,  and  entered  upon  all  his  labors  as  one  bap- 
tized in  the  pure  fountain  of  eternal  love. 


41 

"  Seneca,  Socrates,  Plato,"  he  said,  "  were  teach- 
ers; yes,  and  our  Lord  and  Saviour  was  the  Great 
Teacher." 

As  an  expression  of  some  of  his  general  views,  I 
quote  from  a  letter  I  received  from  him,  dated  April, 
1865: 

"  We  spend  too  much  time  on  vehicles  of  knowl- 
edge, to  have  sufficient  time  for  knowledge  itself. 
This  is  the  great  defect  in  the  education  of  Eng- 
land. The  same  evil  has  been  fostered  among  us. 
The  opposite  error  is  to  make  Education  wholly 
subservient  to  what  is  called  business, — as  if  it 
were  more  important  to  insure  success  in  the  af- 
fairs of  life,  than  to  make  true  men  and  women. 
Language,  the  artificial  and  somewhat  arbitrary  con- 
trivance of  man,  should,  by  no  means,  be  neglected. 
But  who  can,  with  truth,  say  that  the  great  book  of 
nature,  bearing  the  impress  of  infinite  power,  wis- 
dom, and  goodness  is  of  secondary  importance?  A 
teacher  should  know  every  thing  and  be  everything 
that  is  good.  But  as  these  are  rather  high  quali- 
fications, we  must  be  content  with  only  moderate  ap- 
proximations. Deficiency  in  the  knowledge  of 
natural  science  is  too  common  among  teachers. 
I  trust  we   are  taking  the   initial  steps   to  remedy 

6 


42 

this  deficiency.  I  have  often  thought  that  a  good 
knowledge  of  chemistry,  geology,  zoology,  and 
botany  is  a  better  qualification  for  a  teacher  in  the 
school  under  my  charge,  than  perfect  familiarity  with 
all  the  Latin  and  Greek  that  was  ever  written.  *  In 
modo  is  much,  but  in  re  is  vastly  more.'  " 

His  love  for  nature  and  the  natural  sciences  gained 
strength  through  advancing  years.  "  Education 
must  be  changed,"  he  would  say,  "  to  correspond  with 
the  progress  of  society." 

"  The  great  book  of  nature,  glowing  all  over  with 
characters  of  living  light,  afibrds  arguments  inex- 
haustible, and  illustrations  without  number.  l^o 
one  who  has  made  the  natural  sciences  a  study,  can 
fail  to  perceive  the  moral  and  religious  instruction 
they  afford.  The  question  is  whether  we  should  not 
take  more  pains  to  show  the  young  what  God  has 
done  for  them,  in  this  beautiful  world  of  ours." 

In  a  letter  I  received  from  Mr.  Sherwin's  son,  he 
says : — 

"  Every  insect,  leaf,  and  flower  was  to  him 
an  illustration  of  the  omnipotence  and  wisdom  of 
the  Almighty.  There  >vas  no  creature  so  small,  or 
so  despised,  that  he  was  not  ready  to  find  a  claim 
for  its  existence.  Had  leisure  been  granted,  from 
the   earnest  work  in  which   his   life  was  spent,  he 


43 

would  have  been  an  ardent  naturalist.  He  was  a 
religious  man,  not  only  from  faith,  but  through 
processes  of  intellectual  thought.  If  he  had  been 
debarred  from  every  study  but  his  favorite  one  of 
mathematics,  the  pursuit  of  that  alone,  and  the 
great  and,  to  him,  divme  laws  which  govern  the 
exact  sciences,  would  have  led  him  to  a  belief  in 
God.  In  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  he  sought 
to  apply  the  principles  already  mastered  to  the 
great  problems  of  nature,  science,  and  philosophy, 
to  which  all  study  leads,  as  the  movements  of  a 
single  planet  are  but  in  obedience  to,  and  part  of, 
the  great  plan  of  the  universe ;  so  he  regarded  every 
branch  of  study  as  part  of  that  grand  inquiry  for 
truth  which  ends  only  with  the  Infinite." 

In  1854,  at  the  opening  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Instruction,  of  which  Mr.  Sherwin  was  president, 
he  said:  "  The  lapse  of  twenty-five  years,  since  we 
commenced,  has  blanched  the  locks  of  many  among 
us,  but  we  trust  it  has  not  deadened  our  zeal,  nor 
abated  our  interest  in  the  holy  cause  of  education." 

We  may  be  sure  that  time  had  produced  no  such 
influence  upon  him;  his  character  during  a  quarter 
of  a  century  had  but  grown  more  mellow,  and  his 
zeal  more  strong. 


In  May,  1836,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences;  in  which 
Society,  for  more  than  thirty  years,  he  continued  an 
active  interest.  In  February,  1868,  he  was  chosen 
a  member  of  the  'New  England  Historic  Genealogical 
Society.  And  from  the  first  organization  of  the 
Institute  of  Technology,  he  was  a  director;  for  the 
past  ten  years,  attending  its  eveniag  meetings, 
and  faithfully  laboring  for  its  advancement. 

In  addition  to  communications  and  lectures,  read 
and  printed  through  successive  years,  he  published 
two  works  on  Algebra  which  are  the  best  text-books 
upon  this  subject  used  in  our  schools.  For  clearness 
of  thought  and  conciseness  of  expression,  for  judi- 
cious selection  and  wise  adaptation  to  the  mind  of 
the  learner,  they  are  not  surpassed  by  any  school- 
books  ever  written. 

Horace  Mann,  when  Secretary  of  the  Board  of 
Education,  stated  that  attention  was  given  to  Alge- 
bra in  less  than  one  hundred  towns  of  the  State ;  in 
not  one  half  of  the  seventy-eight  incorporated  acad- 
emies was  Algebra  studied,  and  in  those  instances 
only  by  a  few  scholars.  When  we  consider  that  this 
study  has  now  become  nearly  universal,  and  that  Mr. 
Sherwin's  book  has  been  adopted,  almost  without 
exception,  as  the  standard  authority,  we  have  reason 


45 

to  infer  that  the  author  has  greatly  helped  to  extend 
an  important  branch  of  education ;  and  that,  by  what 
he  has  thus  done,  he  has  rendered  a  public  service. 

In  addition  to  his  partiality  for  the  natural  sci- 
ences and  for  mathematics,  Mr.  Sherwin  had  a  decided 
fondness  for  languages.  He  spoke  and  read  French 
fluently,  and  was  well  versed  in  French  literature. 
He  understood  and  could  teach  Spanish.  He  had 
knowledge  of  German,  and  read  Latin  with  ease. 
Livy  and  Cicero  were  favorite  authors,  while  Horace 
often  gained  a  share  of  his  more  leisure  hours. 

Mr.  G.  H.  Lodge,  for  many  years  his  intimate 
friend,  writes  as  follows:  "Mr.  Sherwin  was  an 
industrious  student,  an  honest  thinker,  a  calm  rea- 
soner,  mild  and  tolerant.  Through  a  series  of  years, 
we  met  on  successive  weeks  at  each  other's  rooms. 
We  studied  German,  French,  and  Spanish  together. 
We  played  duets  on  the  flute.  We  discussed  ques- 
tions on  the  arts,  grammar,  etc.  Our  intercourse  was 
very  happy,  and  I  think  the  better  of  myself  for 
having  been  the  friend  of  Thomas  Sherwin." 

Mr.  Sherwin's  reading  took  a  wide  range.  He 
was  familiar  with  all  the  standard  histories  and  most 
of  the  English    classics.     He    had  read  the   older 


46 

French  authors  and  dramatists,  as  well  as  all  the 
works  upon  mathematics  which  could  be  obtained,  — 
many  of  the  latter  so  abstruse  and  difficult  that  few 
men  in  the  country  would  think  of  taking  them  up, 
yet  he  read  them  for  amusement  and  relaxation.  He 
was  a  great  admirer  of  Shakspeare  and  Milton.  The 
works  of  Prescott,  Macaulay,  and  Motley  he  knew 
intimately,  and  fully  kept  up  to  the  times  on  all 
topics  of  thought  and  inquiry.  He  read  with  interest 
the  writings  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  Charles  Dickens, 
though  he  felt  a  little  annoyed  that  in  delineating 
the  character  of  the  Teacher,  they  had  both  done 
something  to  bring  the  profession  he  himself  so  hon- 
ored into  ridicule  and  disrepute.  The  leading  peri- 
odicals, —  American,  English  and  French,  —  which 
he  thought  well-informed  men  should  be  acquainted 
with,  he  read  quite  extensively. 

Such  were  his  scholarly  tastes  and  habits. 

There  were  but  few  objects  upon  which  he  did  not 
make  himself  intelligently  conversant.  He  was  ac- 
quainted with  practical  Farming,  knew  the  character- 
istics and  capabilities  of  different  soils,  the  proper 
succession  of  crops,  the  chemical  properties  of  the 
atmosphere  and  the  earth.  He  had  read  the  best 
works  on  agriculture,  and  had  gained  much  informa- 


47 

tion  on  the  same  subject,  both  from  personal  experi- 
ence and  intercourse  with  others.  In  Architecture  he 
felt  keenly  sensitive  to  any  defects,  and  an  appreci- 
ative admiration  for  all  that  was  good.  His  mathe- 
matical knowledge  ministered  to  his  artistic  tastes. 
Upon  the  subject  of  Music  he  professed  much  infor- 
mation; without  pretending  to  profound  scientific 
knowledge,  he  had  a  correct  ear  and  cultivated  taste, 
while  compositions  of  the  highest  order  he  could  both 
analyze  and  enjoy.* 

Indeed,  his  ever-active  mind  lost  no  reasonable 
opportunity  of  gaining  knowledge,  while  all  that  he 
acquired  was  made  subservient  to  the  interests  of  ed- 
ucation. He  would  often  say,  "  I  can  make  this  of 
service  to  my  boys." 

Thus  was  there  a  constant  self-culture  and  growth. 
His  pupils  often  felt,  as  many  others  did  also,  that  he 
was  an  encyclopaedia  of  information.  JSTo  opportunity 
with  him,  either  of  gaining  or  imparting,  was  ne- 
glected.    When  the  drawing  master  came  to  teach 


*  As  an  indication  of  the  versatility  of  his  gifts,  and  that  he  had  in  his 
nature  the  poetic  element  combined  with  a  fine  sense  of  wit  and  humor, 
it  may  be  mentioned  that  about  two  years  since  he  prepared  for  a  meeting 
of  his  college  classmates  a  poem  of  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  lines, 
into  which  he  most  ingeniously  introduced  the  name  of  every  member  of 
the  class,  with  graphic  descriptions  and  amusing  characteristics,  "  whicli 
kept,"  to  use  the  language  of  one  present,  ♦•  the  whole  company  in  a  roar 
of  laughter." 


48 

the  classes,  he  would  take  a  seat  with  the  boys,  and 
draw  by  their  side.  "When  Professor  Munroe  went 
through  the  vocal  exercises,  and  gymnastic  drill,  he 
would  gladly  participate.  He  never  became  too  old  to 
learn,  or  lost  his  enthusiasm  for  improvement.  So 
affairs  went  on  prosperously  in  the  history  of  the 
school.  The  path  of  duty  quietly  pursued,  and 
always  with  continued  progress. 

But  at  length  a  great  change  came  over  the  whole 
country.  An  ominous  cloud  spread  its  tempestuous 
shadow!  Many  were  appalled  by  dark  forebodings. 
Treacherous  and  malignant  hands  threatened  the  very 
life  of  the  nation.  The  slave  oligarchy,  filled  with 
insane  ambition,  laid  its  plans  deeply,  and  with  a 
crafty  cunning.  Thoroughly  loyal  himself,  what  he 
saw  filled  him  with  indignation  and  grief.  Every 
act  of  perfidy  and  treason  roused  him  the  more.  The 
outbreak  of  hostilities,  the  cruelty  to  our  men,  —  all 
stirred  his  heart.  What  would  he  not  do  for  his 
country?  He  attended  public  meetings,  encouraged 
effort,  and  liberally  contributed  money,  to  the  full  ex- 
tent of  his  means.  He  rejoiced  as  he  heard  of  past 
graduates  of  the  school,  springing,  on  every  side, 
to  the  aid  of  the  national  government.  By  word, 
look,  and  deed,  he  helped  the  good  cause.     With  him 


49 

there  was  no  lukewarmness.  The  cause  of  our  armies 
was  the  cause  of  humanity  and  of  God. 

He  was  deeply  interested  in  the  formation  of  the 
first  colored  regiment  (the  54th  Massachusetts) ,  and 
raised  a  large  sum  for  its  equipment. 

But  more  than  this.  Providence  had  blessed  him 
with  three  sons,  —  all  the  children  he  had,  and  these 
three  manly  young  men,  —  which  of  them  could  he 
give  to  this  great  cause?  He  gave  them  all.  Yes, 
from  that  pleasant,  peaceful  home,  three  courageous, 
patriotic  men  went  forth,  ready,  if  need  be,  to  die. 
Two  entered  the  navy,  and  did  their  work  there,  fear- 
lessly and  well.  And  one  joined  the  volunteers  of 
the  United  States  Army,  going  out  as  an  officer  in 
the  22d  Massachusetts.  For  three  years,  serving  in 
the  army  of  the  Potomac,  he  was  in  more  than 
twenty  battles,  and,  after  being  wounded  in  the  ser- 
vice, he  again  returned  to  his  regiment.  He  rose  to 
be  Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  was  afterwards  brevetted 
Brigadier  General. 

Among  the  honored  men  who  did  service  to  the 
country  through  that  trying  period,  and  whose  cour- 
age and  fidelity  helped  to  crown  our  cause  with 
success,  should  ever  be  remembered  with  gratitude, 
General  Thomas  Sherwin. 


50 

When  at  length,  through  the  devoted  heroism  of 
our  soldiery,  the  skill  of  our  commanders,  and  the 
wisdom  of  the  executive,  victory,  by  a  kind  Provi- 
dence, with  succeeding  peace  and  prosperity,  were 
granted  to  the  nation,  Mr.  Sherwin  found  himself, 
thank  Heaven,  reunited  to  his  three  sons.  "While 
thousands  had  fallen,  they  had  been  preserved,  ^ow 
the  country  was  safe.  The  integrity  of  the  national 
government  had  been  vindicated.  A  colossal  evil, 
the  root  of  all  our  woe,  existed  no  longer;  and  a 
glorious  future  was  opening  before  us.  Mr.  Sherwin 
felt  the  weight  of  anxiety  lifted  from  his  mind.  His 
natural  cheerfulness  returned  to  him,  and  he  seemed, 
as  he  indeed  was,  one  of  the  happiest  of  men. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  tranquillity,  with  joy  and 
peace  around  him,  a  cherished  dream  of  his  life 
seemed  about  to  be  realized.  The  thought  of  a  visit 
to  Europe  had  naturally  floated  before  him.  The 
scenes  associated  so  intimately  with  his  reading  and 
study ;  interwoven  with  history,  science  and  art ;  the 
monuments  of  past  ages,  the  footprints  of  civiliza- 
tion, —  even  a  hasty  glance  at  these  would  not  only 
be  a  great  personal  gratification,  but  would  aid  him 
in  the  education  of  others. 

What  fresh  illustrations  it  would  furnish !  What 
added  power  it  might  impart !     Thirty  years  of  in- 


61 

cessant  labor  was  beginning  to  wear  upon  him ;  a  few 
months'  absence  might  invigorate  both  body  and 
mind.  The  committee  granted  leave  of  absence, 
and  everything  seemed  auspicious. 

As  an  indication  of  his  feelings,  I  read  the  follow- 
ing words,  which  I  received  in  a  note  written  by  him 
at  that  time  :  — 

"  The  English  High  School,"  he  says,  "  is,  after  my 
OAvn  family,  my  great,  almost  my  only  object  of  in- 
terest in  this  life.  I  shall  leave  it,  even  for  a  short 
time,  with  feelings  of  reluctance.  I  hope  and  trust, 
however,  that  it  will  not  suffer  by  my  absence,  and 
that  on  my  return,  it  may  be  benefitted  by  the  knowl- 
edge obtained  from  a  wider  observation  of  the  world 
than  I  have  hitherto  enjoyed." 

Such  were  his  views  and  feelings.  Arrangements 
were  nearly  completed;  he  was  to  accompany  his 
friend  and  relative,  the  Hon.  Marshall  P.  Wilder. 
The  passage  was  engaged;  when,  a  few  days  before 
the  steamer  was  to  leave,  a  sudden  impediment  pre- 
sented itself.  A  newly  appointed  teacher  had  found 
difficulty  in  the  management  of  his  charge.  The  boys 
refused  to  be  controlled.  The  teacher  had  lost  con- 
fidence, and  was  overpowered.     Mr.  Sherwin  called 


52 

at  my  house.  I  said,  "I  am  rejoiced  to  see  yon.'' 
He  replied,  "  You  will  not  be,  when  you  know  why 
I  am  here."  "What,  then,"  I  said,  "is  the  occa- 
sion? "  He  replied,  "  Trouble."  He  stated  the  par- 
ticulars, adding,  "What  am  I  to  do?  My  plans 
are  laid,  my  passage  taken,  but  I  cannot  go.  It  will 
not  answer.     Am  I  right?  " 

There  he  stood,  true  to  his  duty,  true  to  himself. 
The  thought  of  Europe,  with  all  its  attractions,  just 
within  his  reach,  the  cherished  dream  of  his  life 
about  to  be  realized.  Could  he  leave  his  school,  even 
if  one  department  was  in  a  state  of  insubordination? 
[N^ot  for  a  moment  could  he  hesitate.  His  duty  was 
here.  Every  plan  was  instantly  changed;  and 
from  that  hour  he  continued  at  his  post. 

This  was  a  simple,  natural,  truthful  illustration  of 
the  man.  It  was  in  harmony  with  his  course  through 
forty  years.  His  whole  soul  was  in  his  work;  and  in 
this  instance,  great  as  the  disappointment  was,  he 
would  hardly  allow  himself  to  call  it  disappointment 
while  duty  demanded  him  here. 

He  thought  then  it  was  possible  he  might  go 
abroad  at  some  future  time;  but  that  time  never  came. 
Cheerfully  he  gave  himself  to  his  accustomed  labors. 
Harmony  was  at  once  restored,  and  the  whole  school 
displayed  a  proficiency  and  progress  which  had  not 
been  surpassed. 


53 

The  English  High  School,  whose  origin  had  formed 
an  era  in  the  educational  history  of  the  city,  was  in- 
tended to  afford  the  very  best  practical  education 
which  could  possibly  be  obtained.  Mr.  Sherwin's 
strenuous  purpose,  from  the  beginning,  was  to  make 
this  school,  in  every  particular,  all  that  it  professed 
to  be;  and  not  only  so,  but  to  carry  it  forward  to  yet 
higher  attainments,  embracing  whatever  was  most 
valuable  in  the  advancing  tendencies  of  the  times. 

For  three  grand  results  this  school,  under  the 
guidance  of  Mr.  Sherwin,  became  justly  distin- 
guished. 

First.  For  thoroughness.  Whatever  was  acquired, 
was  understood.  Every  principle  involved  was  ren- 
dered so  clear  that  it  could  not  but  be  comprehended. 
Nothing  essential  was  slighted;  nothing  superficial 
was  tolerated.  A  tutor  in  Harvard  University  in- 
formed me  that  he  could  readily  designate  the  grad- 
uates of  this  school,  from  any  other  students  in  the 
college,  by  the  accuracy  of  their  acquirements,  and 
by  their  complete  mastery  of  whatever  studies  they 
had  pursued. 

Second.  The  development  of  mental  power.  Mr. 
Sherwin  taught  his  pupils  to  think  for  themselves. 
Not  contented  with  imparting  information,  he  quick- 
ened and  unfolded  the  faculties,  arousing  the  whole 


54 

intellect  into  healthy  and  vigorous  activity.  Teach- 
ing every  capacity  not  only  to  work,  but  how  to  work 
to  the  best  possible  advantage. 

Third.  Manliness  of  character.  Integrity  of 
thought;  self-reliance,  and  self-respect;  the  best  type 
of  a  noble  Manhood.  Principle,  not  blind  impulse  or 
a  temporizing  policy,  but  a  deep-rooted  love  for  the 
right,  the  true,  and  the  good.  !N"o  amount  of  knowl- 
edge, without  these,  could  satisfy  Mr.  Sherwin;  they 
were  to  him  the  consummation  to  which  all  education 
should  tend. 

It  was  the  power  which  Mr.  Sherwin  possessed  to 
inspire  this  spirit  and  secure  these  results,  which  led 
so  many  of  the  young  men  to  become  heartily  at- 
tached to  him  while  under  his  care,  and  to  pursue, 
through  after  years,  a  career  of  undeviating  useful- 
ness. In  professional  life,  in  mercantile  business, 
and  amid  the  wearing  pursuits  of  daily  toil,  they 
proved  themselves,  in  the  best  sense,  honorable  citi- 
zens, and  in  many  instances  became  widely  recog- 
nized as  benefactors  of  society. 

Teachers  and  graduates,  shall  we  step,  for  an  in- 
stant, into  the  school-room,  and  glance  at  the  method 
of  teaching  which  left  such  results? 


55 

How  striking  is  that  presence  I  The  calm  and  in- 
tellectual expression;  those  finely  chiselled  features; 
the  firm  decision  of  the  mouth ;  the  quiet  yet  com- 
manding deportment;  unaffected  dignity,  blended 
with  manly  grace. 

It  is  the  hour  of  recitation.  "We  hear  not  the  for- 
mal interchange  of  questions  and  answers,  mechanic- 
ally repeated  from  a  text-book,  —  far  difierent;  how 
natural  the  unfolding  of  the  subject,  how  animated 
the  thought,  with  illustrations  from  nature  and  from 
life,  awakening  in  each  mind  the  interest  of  personal 
discovery ! 

When  the  teacher  speaks,  how  marked  is  his  brev- 
ity! Every  expression  exactly  to  the  point,  with 
never  a  syllable  too  little  or  too  much.  Good  Saxon 
words,  and  of  those  the  shortest  and  simplest.  Like 
Porson,  he  condescends  to  call  a  spade  a  spade,  and 
not  a  horticultural  implement.  How  often,  with  one 
sentence,  he  sends  a  blaze  of  light  over  the  whole 
subject,  making  its  meaning  clear  as  day.  Old 
Chaucer  described  him,  five  centuries  ago,  when,  in 
his  Canterbury  Pilgrim,  he  says :  — 

"  Not  a  word  spake  he,  more  than  was  need ; 
And  that  was  said  in  form  and  reverence, 
And  short  and  quick,  and  full  of  high  sentence: 
Sounding  in  moral  virtue  was  his  speech, 
And  gladly  would  he  learn,  and  gladly  teach." 


56 

In  mathematics,  navigation,  astronomy,  mechanics, 
the  black-board  is  constantly  in  requisition.  Each 
proposition  is  demonstrated  in  every  part,  and  this 
not  by  four  or  five  of  the  brightest  boys,  but  by 
every  boy  in  the  class.  IN^othing  is  taken  for 
granted,  and  nothing  is  left  unillustrated  or  un- 
explained. 

Beyond  the  regular  instruction,  observe  from  time 
to  time,  and  always  at  the  right  instant,  what  wise 
counsel  and  pithy  advice,  —  not  prosaic  moralizing, 
but  a  concise  and  happy  statement,  graphic  as  Frank- 
lin's, full  of  that  shrewdness  and  sound  sense 
which  gains  for  it  a  cordial  welcome,  and  causes  it 
to  bear  fruit  through  after  years. 

Numerous  instances  might  be  mentioned  of  the 
felicitous  manner  in  which  items  of  practical  advice 
were  given,  to  be  of  service  in  the  future  experience 
of  actual  life.  Our  friend  and  associate,  Mr.  Charles 
F.  "Wyman,  recalls  the  manner  in  which  he  urged 
the  habit  of  keeping  a  strict  account  of  personal  ex- 
penses. "  Some  of  you,"  said  Mr.  Sherwin,  "  may 
have  little,  if  any,  spending-money;  others  maybe 
more  favored;  but  be  the  amount  less  or  more,  you 
will  do  well  to  keep  an  account-book,  ^ot  that  I 
would  have  you  become  mean  or  selfish  by  such  a 
course  j  but  you  will  probably  thus  secure  to  your- 


57 

selves  habits  of  order  and  proper  economy.  But 
I  recommend  this  plan  especially  because  most  of 
you  will  be  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  and  if 
you  learn  to  take  care  of  your  own  money,  you  will 
thus  save  yourselves  much  labor  and  temptation  in 
the  care  you  have  over  the  property  of  your  employ- 
ers." There  were  young  men  in  that  class  who  cor- 
dially received  that  wise  suggestion,  and  have  faith- 
fully acted  upon  it  from  that  day,  and  who  have 
found  its  value  increase  with  every  year.  It  was 
probably  not  so  much  what  was  said,  as  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  was  said,  which  gave  to  this  simple 
and  timely  advice  such  an  enduring  influence. 

So  also  Mr.  Simpson  recalls  the  fact  that  one 
morning  during  the  war,  the  pupils  and  teacher  were 
much  excited  over  the  news  of  battles  just  fought,  in 
which  near  relatives  of  those  present  were  doubtless 
engaged,  when  suddenly  Mr.  Sherwin  exclaimed, 
kindly  yet  emphatically,  "  Well,  boys,  the  army  will 
attend  to  its  duty  there,  our  duty  lies  JiereP  That 
expression,  so  given,  the  pupils  declare,  always 
recurs  to  their  minds  when  they  are  tempted  at  any 
time  to  neglect  the  duty  immediately  before  them. 
Those  words  seem  still  audible:  "  Oar  duty  lies 
liereP 

Mr.  Moriarty,  the  faithful  secretary  of  the  High 


58 

School  Association,  recalls  another  impressive  inci- 
dent. One  morning,  Mr.  Sherwin's  manner  was 
unusually  solemn.  After  the  opening  morning  exer- 
cise, he  addressed  the  class.  "  My  young  friends," 
he  said,  "  you  are  in  the  morning  of  life,  and  have, 
before  you,  I  trust,  many  years  of  prosperity.  I  am 
in  the  evening  of  my  days,  and  know  not  how  many 
years  Providence  may  have  in  store  for  me.  But 
whatever  these  years  might  be,  I  would  gladly  relin- 
quish them  all,  if,  by  so  doing,  I  could  render  ser- 
vice to  my  country.  Were  a  gulf  to  open  at  my  feet, 
filled  with  blazing  fire,  and  I  knew  that  by  plunging 
into  it,  I  could  spare  my  country  the  ordeal  through 
which  she  is  passing,  I  would  not  hesitate  to 
do  so." 

His  earnest  expression  of  countenance,  the  im- 
pressive tones  of  his  voice,  showed  how  deeply  he 
felt  all  he  said;  and  every  boy  there  knew  that  he 
would,  in  very  truth,  have  done  this  and  more,  if,  by 
so  doing,  he  could,  in  that  trying  hour,  have  bene- 
fitted his  country. 

With  Mr.  Sherwin  no  fraction  of  the  day  was  mis- 
spent. He  did  not  waste  three-fourths  of  his  time  in 
striving  to  ascertain  how  he  should  dispose  of  the 
other  fourth  to  advantage.  ]^o  one  knew  better  than 
he  did  how  to  make  the  utmost  of  each  moment  as  it 


59 

came.     'No  slight  proportion  of  his  power  came  from 
his  promptitude. 

So  also  with  regard  to  discipline,  his  thoughtful 
consideration  prevented  the  necessity  of  severe  meas- 
ures. For  more  than  twenty  years,  not  a  blow  had 
been  struck.  Courtesy  and  kindness  led  to  obe- 
dience and  respect;  and  this  was  secured  by  per- 
sonal dignity  and  weight  of  character.  In  a  note  I 
received  from  him  upon  this  subject,  he  says:  "Inter- 
est a  scholar  in  what  is  useful,  purifying,  elevating, 
and  you  acquire  almost  necessarily  a  suflScient  con- 
trol over  him."  "If,"  he  adds,  "a  scholar  realizes  that 
the  teacher  is  deeply  interested  in  his  welfare,  that 
good  order  and  the  scrupulous  observance  of  rules 
are  essential  to  that  welfare,  and  if  with  this  knowl- 
edge, the  pupil  is  kept  fully  employed,  he  will 
rarely  prove  troublesome."  He  endeavored  to  place 
a  boy  where  his  antagonistic  feelings  would  not  be- 
come excited;  to  work  with  his  nature  rather  than 
against  it.  Sir  "Walter  Scott  once  said  that  if  he  knew 
a  man  had  several  pounds  of  gunpowder  in  his 
pocket,  he  did  not  precisely  understand  why  he  need 
insist  upon  that  man's  taking  his  seat  next  to  the 
fire.  When  Mr.  Sherwin  knew  that  a  lad  was  com- 
posed of  combustible  material,  he  placed  him  where 
the  least  harm  might  be  anticipated.     He  knew  how  to 


60 

avoid  evil,  by  putting  out  of  the  way  the  causes 
which  lead  to  it;  and  he  knew  how  to  encourage 
and  strengthen  what  was  good,  by  establishing  all 
those  conditions  which  tend  thither.  He  pre-occu- 
pied  the  mind  by  what  was  right;  and  kindled  within 
it  such  true  purposes,  that  all  its  interests  and  ten- 
dencies turned  instinctively  in  that  direction. 

If  any  wrong  disposition  was  discovered,  he  had 
his  own  way  of  meeting  it, —  seldom  administering 
rebuke  before  others,  in  a  manner  to  create  bitterness 
of  feeling.  His  method,  in  each  instance,  was  individ- 
ual, and  adapted  to  the  particular  circumstances.  It 
might  be  difficult  to  describe  such  a  case,  it  depended 
so  greatly  upon  his  own  peculiar  manner. 

A  lad  was  guilty  of  falsehood.  Mr.  Sherwin  called 
him  up,  but  instead  of  punishment,  or  even  direct  re- 
proof, he  broke  forth  into  an  enthusiastic  exposition 
of  truth, —  the  value  of  truth,  the  beauty  of  truth,  the 
majesty  of  truth.  His  mind  kindled  with  his  theme, 
and  this  boy,  standing  there,  without  one  syllable  of 
censure,  seemed  as  if  in  the  midst  of  a  consuming  fire. 
Remorse  seized  upon  him,  and  he  burst  into  a  flood 
of  tears.  His  companions  declare  that  from  that  hour 
they  never  knew  him  to  be  guilty  of  an  untruth. 

Mr.  Sherwin  was  quick  to  discern  and  appreciate 
every  honest  effort;  and  such  was  his  evident  sympa- 


61 

thy  with  his  pupils,  that  he  readily  commanded  their 
confidence.  They  did  not  need  to  be  told  that  he 
cared  for  them,  every  look  and  word  proved  it.  He 
never  despaired  of  a  boy,  or  gave  one  up  as  hopeless. 
"Can  we  not  do  something  with  him?"  was  the  ques- 
tion he  asked;  and  when  some  latent  faculty  was  dis- 
covered, or  some  motive  of  action  to  which  an  effective 
appeal  could  be  made,  with  what  sincere  gratification 
would  he  lead  the  boy  on  from  one  field  of  inquiry 
and  another,  feeling  amply  rewarded  for  every  effort 
if  he  could  thus  secure  all  the  improvement  which  the 
nature  of  the  case  rendered  possible. 

Boys  who  become  disheartened  and  discouraged 
under  the  charge  of  other  teachers,  by  such  judicious 
treatment  went  through  an  intellectual  regeneration. 
Many  a  pupil,  by  his  care,  has  experienced  the  most 
wonderful  transformation,  and  acknowledged  in  after 
years,  with  tears  of  gratitude,  the  deep  indebtedness 
due  to  him. 

There  was  an  entire  absence  of  partiality.  Favor- 
itism in  his  presence  was  a  thing  imthought  of;  —  ab- 
solute justice  was  extended  to  all.  The  truest  wel- 
fare of  every  one,  they  knew,  he  had  at  heart.  A  lad 
who  was  a  cripple,  exclaimed  :  "He  is  the  best  man  I 
ever  knew."  A  colored  young  man,  who  received  a 
medal  for  excellency  in  declamation,  and  a  diploma  for 


62 

honorable  proficiency  in  his  studies,  said  to  me  :  "He 
treats  us  all  with  equal  kindness,  and  a  generous  care 
which  knows  no  bounds." 

In  order  to  adapt  himself  the  better  to  the  wants 
of  each  individual,  he  took  pains  to  acquaint  himself 
with  the  antecedents  of  all,  —  their  history,  home,  and 
social  surroundings.  If  they  were  ill,  he  would  visit 
them.  If  they  were  destitute,  in  the  most  delicate 
way  he  would  minister  to  their  necessities. 

"When  they  were  about  to  leave  his  more  immediate 
care,  he  would  endeavor  to  gain  for  them  desirable 
places.  Hundreds  through  him  have  secured  advan- 
tageous positions ;  and  even  after  this  he  kept  him- 
self acquainted  with  their  plans  and  prospects.  Such 
was  the  confidence  in  his  judgment,  that  business 
houses  would  consult  him,  making  application  for 
young  men.  And  those  who  had  been  under  his 
care,  after  they  had  entered  into  business  relations, 
would  still  come  to  him  for  advice  and  to  express 
their  gratitude. 

Well  did  President  Wayland  affirm  that  the  work 
of  education  "  presents  subjects  vast  enough,  and  in- 
terests grave  enough,  to  task  the  highest  efforts  of 
the  most  gifted  intellect,  in  the  full  vigor  of  its  pow- 
ers." Such  were  Mr.  Sherwin's  views  of  education. 
In  this  spirit  he  entered  upon  his  duties,  and  with 
the  same  spirit  he  continued  to  the  end. 


63 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Lothrop,  Mr.  Sherwin's  college 
classmate  and  friend,  —  the  efficient  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  the  English  High  School,  and  whose 
important  services  in  behalf  of  education  are  well 
known, — writes  to  me  as  follows:  "For  the  last 
twenty  years,  my  personal  and  official  relations  with 
Mr.  Sherwin  have  been  most  intimate,  and  always 
the  great  feature  I  have  noticed  was  growth.  Every 
year  he  was  a  better,  broader,  more  tolerant  and  schol- 
arly man.  There  was  a  reality  about  him,  a  freedom 
from  arrogance  and  pretence,  show  and  routine, 
rarely  found  in  a  man  who  has  devoted  forty  years  to 
the  profession  of  teaching.  He  taught  in  a  variety 
of  departments,  yet  in  every  one  he  was  in  advance 
of  the  text-books,  and  no  new  discovery  in  science 
or  inventive  art,  was  made,  but  he  got  hold  of  it,  knew 
all  about  it,  and  communicated  the  facts  orally  to  his 
pupils,  long  before  it  could  otherwise  come  to  them. 
This  gave  a  freshness  and  reality  to  his  teaching  alike 
interesting  and  useful  to  his  pupils.  He  never  did  a 
nobler  or  grander  work  than  during  his  last  year." 

Mr.  Sherwin  was  connected  with  the  English  High 
School  from  1828  to  1869,  a  period  of  forty-one  years, 
during  thirty  of  which  he  had  the  supreme  charge. 

Within  this  time,  three  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
thirty-seven   boys  were   enrolled   as  pupils   of  the 


64 

school.  Nearly  four  thousand  young  men  thus  came 
under  his  directing  and  moulding  power.  "Who  can 
describe  the  effect  of  such  instruction  and  discipline 
upon  so  many  destined  to  take  active  part  in  the 
practical  labors  and  duties  of  life  ? 

The  last  graduating  class  which  had  the  privilege 
of  Mr.  Sherwin's  care,  numbered  forty-four.  The 
closing  exhibition  took  place,  Saturday,  July  17. 
Mr.  Sherwin  conducted  the  exercises.  Nine  pupils 
received  Franklin  medals.  It  was  the  declaration  of 
Mr.  Philbrick,  that  "this  year  of  school-service  was 
the  most  completely  successful  of  any  of  the  forty 
years  of  his  connection  with  the  school;  which,  he 
adds,  "  is  the  highest  eulogy  that  can  be  pronounced 
upon  any  teacher." 

The  School  Festival  took  place  at  the  Music  Hall, 
July  20th,  at  which  Mr.  Sherwin  was  present,  in  ex- 
cellent spirits.  I  had,  on  that  day,  a  most  pleasant 
conversation  with  him,  which  will  ever  remain  as  a 
sacred  remembrance. 

On  July  21  and  22,  the  examination  of  candi- 
dates for  admission  to  the  High  School  took  place. 
There  were  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  appli- 
cants examined,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  sixty-two 
were  admitted.  Mr.  Sherwin  conducted  the  exami- 
nations on  both  days,  in  apparently  perfect  health. 


65 

On  the  day  following,  being  at  his  house  in  the 
country,  he  accompanied  his  son  to  the  railroad  sta- 
tion, stating,  as  they  parted,  "  I  shall  call  to  consult 
with  the  physician,  as  I  do  not  feel  exactly  right." 

This  was  the  first  intimation  given  to  any  one  re- 
specting indisposition.  During  the  consultation,  he 
spoke  of  an  intermittent  motion  of  the  pulse.  "  You 
have  observed  that?  "  said  the  physician.  He  replied, 
"  I  have." 

He  saw  that  the  trouble  was  serious.  The  signal 
for  departure  had  sounded,  and  he  might  be  called  at 
any  moment.  He  continued  calm  and  undisturbed ; 
so  much  so  that,  shortly  after,  the  physician  happen- 
ing to  overtake  him  on  his  way  towards  home,  over- 
heard him  singing  to  himself  a  pleasant  tune.  Thus 
Bunyan's  Pilgrim,  at  the  window  which  opened 
towards  the  rising  sun,  when  he  thought  of  the  Celes- 
tial City  and  the  shining  ones,  awoke  and  sang !  — 
so  little  did  apprehension  cast  its  shadow  over  the 
natural  serenity  of  his  mind.  After  this,  he  united  in 
pleasant  conversation  with  his  family,  walked  in  the 
garden,  went  to  his  room,  took  a  book,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment, without  a  sign  or  struggle,  passed  from  this 
life  to  another. 

In  conversation  with  a  friend,  not  long  before,  he 


66 

had  said,  "When  I  depart,  I  hope  it  will  be  suddenly, 
like  the  going  out  of  a  candle."  He  went  in  accord- 
ance with  his  wish. 

"  It  will  make  but  little  difference,"  he  said  to  his 
friend,  "  when  we  go,  if  we  are  only  prepared."  His 
whole  life  was  a  preparation.  He  adored  the  wis- 
dom and  goodness  of  God,  through  his  word  and  his 
works ;  —  and  glorious  to  him  was  the  prospect  of 
that  immortality,  in  which  he  should  behold  yet  more 
fully  the  ways  of  Jehovah. 

^ay,  so  truly  did  he  revere  his  calling,  that  he  be- 
lieved he  should  still  be  engaged  much  in  the  same 
way,  studying  truth  and  imparting  it.  "  If  God,"  he 
would  say,  "  has  given  me  such  duties  here,  and  en- 
dowed me  with  a  capacity  for  them,  why  may  there 
not  be  similar  duties  in  a  higher  sphere?  "  Sublime 
and  inspiring  faith !  True  through  life  to  the  highest 
purpose  and  the  divinest  thought,  with  the  same  un- 
extinguishable  love  of  goodness  and  truth,  his  soul 
desired  to  carry  even  into  heaven  its  work  of  useful- 
ness! 

It  was  in  July  when  the  last  service  took  place. 
The  multitude  of  mourners  that  assembled,  neighbors 
and  friends,  old  and  young,  teachers  and  taught,  at- 
tested to  the  wide  sense  of  private  and  public  loss, 
and  to  that  heartfelt  reverence  and  love  in  which  he 
was  universally  held. 


67 

A  more  faithful  and  useful  teacher  had  probably 
not  lived,  from  the  time  of  Roger  Ascham,  to  Dr. 
Arnold,  of  Rugby. 

Indeed,  between  Mr.  Sherwin  and  Dr.  Arnold  there 
were  striking  resemblances.  In  the  character  of 
each  a  strong  natural  capacity  was  united  to  in- 
dustry, constant  and  unabating.  Both  had  a  sympa- 
th}'-  for  young  people,  with  a  real  pleasure  in  the 
work  of  instruction,  and  an  interest  in  that  work 
which  only  increased  with  advancing  age. 

Both  united  firmness  with  tenderness,  and  modesty 
with  true  self-respect  and  personal  independence. 

"  I  hold,"  said  Dr.  Arnold,  "  that  a  man  is  only  fit 
to  teach  so  long  as  he  is  himself  learning  daily." 
'No  words  could  express  more  exactly  the  principle 
and  practice  of  Mr.  Sherwin. 

Both  were  impatient  of  mere  routine,  and  carried 
into  all  their  labors  a  spirit  of  Life,  giving  freshness 
and  flexibility  to  all  they  undertook. 

They  mutually  discarded  from  the  school-room, 
artifice  and  dogmatism;  treating  all  with  courtesy 
and  kindness,  and  gaining  in  return  confidence  and 
friendship. 

Both  acted  upon  the  principle  that  more  should  be 
done  by  the  boys,  than  for  them;  and  that  the  most 


68 

desirable  thing  to  teach  them,  was  the  use  of  their 
own  faculties. 

Both  introduced  into  the  school-room  the  highest 
principles  of  action,  and  carried  the  same  principles 
fully  out  in  their  intercourse  with  mankind. 

!N^either  could  be  narrowed  down  into  the  mere 
pedagogue,  but  stood  up  in  the  full  stature  of  many- 
sided  and  complete  manhood;  fulfilling  various 
duties  for  the  public  welfare,  and  striving  at  all  times 
to  promote  the  best  interests  of  society. 

They  alike  cultivated  the  habit  of  "  doing  what 
was  right,  speaking  what  was  true,  and  thinking 
what  was  good." 

It  was  not  a  little  remarkable  that  while  there  was 
such  a  resemblance  in  character,  there  should  have 
been  so  many  corresponding  circumstances  in  their 
external  life;  and  that  at  length  both  should  have 
been  taken  away  with  the  same  instantaneous  sud- 
denness from  the  midst  of  active  duty.  Within  eight 
or  ten  years,  the  attendance  at  the  English  High 
School  had  doubled  j  the  number  of  pupils  at  Rugby 
had  rapidly  increased  in  the  same  manner.  In 
each  school,  the  term  had  just  drawn  to  a  close, 
and  the  graduating  class  had  passed  through  their 
public  day  of  valedictory  exercises.  The  examina- 
tion of  the  new  class  had  taken  place,  when  both 


69 

Teachers,  in  the  midst  of  apparent  health,  and  in  the 
full  exercise  of  every  faculty,  were,  by  a  disease  of  the 
heart,  taken  at  once  from  this  life  into  the  realities  of 
eternity. 

There  was  throughout,  an  Individuality  in  the  life 
we  have  been  considering;  a  vital  unity;  an  inner 
law  of  growth,  which,  from  the  beginning,  developed 
itself,  persistently  to  the  end.  Few  persons  ever 
carried  out  more  fully  that  favorite  sentence  of  Mar- 
cus Aurelius :  "  Let  nothing  be  done  without  a  pur- 
pose." To  educate  himself  thoroughly,  perfectly,  in 
every  faculty  and  power,  might  with  him  have  been 
called  a  pervading  passion;  and  the  knowledge  he 
craved  for  himself,  with  the  truest  liberality  he  wished 
all  others  to  enjoy.  With  such  views  of  life  and 
education  (on  every  side  broad  and  far-reaching),  his 
interest  could  never  falter.  The  desire  to  teach  had 
been  the  ambition  of  his  younger  days;  it  was  the 
delight  of  his  maturer  life,  and  it  continued  the  ab- 
sorbing enjoyment  of  his  riper  age;  while,  through 
all,  he  became  daily  more  learned,  more  wise,  more 
capable,  retaining  to  the  last  the  cheerfulness,  the 
elasticity,  and  the  freshness  of  youth. 

Of  those  teachers  who  were  most  intimately  asso- 


70 

ciated  with  Mr.  Sherwin  in  his  direct  labors,  not  a 
few  had  been  with  him  ten,  fifteen,  and  twenty  years. 
Teachers  of  the  Enghsh  High  School,  do  I  not  ex- 
press the  sentiment  of  your  hearts  when  I  say,  that 
nothing  can  surpass  the  strength  of  your  attachment, 
or  the  profoundness  of  that  homage  which  you  cher- 
ish for  his  memory? 

"With  the  most  thoughtful  kindness  and  true  liber- 
ality, he  always  left  you,  as  you  will  gladly  testify,  to 
accomplish  requisite  results  by  your  own  methods  ; 
encouraging  you  ever  to  cherish  ideas  of  your  own ; 
securing  through  this  means  the  individuality  of  all, 
while  at  the  same  time,  he  could  hardly  fail  to  gain 
your  added  confidence  and  respect  by  that  large  and 
pleasant  freedom  you  were  allowed  to  enjoy  in  the 
discharge  of  your  several  duties. 

His  name  will  forever  be  honorably  identified  with 
the  school  over  which  he  presided  so  long  and  so  well. 
May  his  mantle,  like  that  of  the  prophet  Elijah,  fall 
upon  his  successors,  and  may  the  school  itself  not 
only  maintain  its  present  high  standard  of  excellence, 
but  prove,  by  continued  progress,  its  capability  of 
meeting  the  enlarged  demands  of  the  coming  time. 

I  see  before  me  not  only  those  who  were  with 
him  in  his  school,  but  a  large  representation  of  the 


71 

teachers  of  Boston,  who  were  all  bound  to  him  by 
ties  of  personal  friendship. 

Teachers  of  Boston,  natural  it  was  that  you  should 
feel  proud  of  such  an  associate.  For  forty  years  he 
had  labored  among  you,  with  unceasing  assiduity, 
never  limiting  his  sympathies  to  his  own  school,  but 
embracing  in  his  affection  the  whole  educational  in- 
terests of  the  community.  How  could  you  do  other- 
wise than  honor  and  love  him? 

"When  I  think  of  the  five-and-thirty  thousand  chil- 
dren entrusted  to  your  daily  care ;  when  1  recall  the 
fact  that  at  least  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thou- 
sand pupils  have  received  instruction  in  the  public 
schools  of  Boston  since  Mr.  Sherwin  entered  upon 
his  duties  as  teacher;  and  that  the  whole  of  this  vast 
number  have  been  affected  for  evil  or  for  good,  by 
your  fidelity  or  remissness,  I  am  more  impressed 
than  ever  by  the  momentous  character  of  your  work, 
and  feel  that  Mr.  Sherwin  was  right  in  the  high  esti- 
mate he  put  upon  it. 

Is  there  not  much  in  the  life  we  have  been  con- 
templating to  stimulate  and  inspire  every  teacher? 
Mr.  Philbrick,  the  superintendent  of  schools,  has  af- 
firmed that  "  no  one  among  us  has  occupied  so  im- 
portant a  position  in  the  public  service  for  so  long 
a  period,  with  such  uniform  and  eminent  success." 


72 

Many  there  are,  I  know,  of  rare  acquirement  and  ex- 
alted virtue;  I  feel  it  as  I  look  upon  those  who  are 
gathered  around  me  here.  But,  Teachers,  where 
shall  we  look  to  find  all  the  qualifications  requisite 
for  a  superior  teacher  existing  in  so  high  a  degree? 
Where  shall  we  find  another  mind  in  which  all  the 
moral  and  intellectual  qualities  abound  in  such 
perfect  and  beautiful  harmony? 

May  his  memory  throw  a  new  sanctity  over  the 
teacher's  office,  and  the  thought  of  what  he  was, 
and  what  he  did,  give  fresh  impulse  to  the  cause  of 
education,  both  here  and  throughout  the  land. 

Mr.  President  and  officers  of  the  High  School  Asso- 
ciation, who  among  the  four  thousand  scholars  whose 
names  have  been  enrolled  as  pupils  of  the  High  School 
since  Mr.  Sherwin  first  became  connected  with  it, 
will  not  gladly  cherish  his  memory?  From  that  four 
thousand  have  gone  forth  men  to  occupy  every  walk 
of  life,  many  of  whom  have  risen  to  eminent  positions 
in  industrial  pursuits,  and  in  the  public  service ;  the 
city,  the  state,  the  nation,  have  recognized  their  just 
claims  to  honor.  Among  all  those  graduates  there  is 
probably  not  one  whose  heart  will  not  throb  with  last- 
ing gratitude  to  Mr.  Sherwin ;  not  one  who  will  not 
gladly  unite  in  the  memorial  which  is  now  proposed 
as  a  fitting  tribute  to  his  memory. 


73 

We  have  traced  Mr.  Sherwin's  career  from  his  child- 
hood to  his  mature  age ;  have  seen  him  as  a  lad,  —  at 
Westmoreland  and  at  Temple,  —  have  followed  him 
in  his  apprenticeship,  as  he  fulfilled  his  daily  task* 
studying  his  book  while  he  worked  at  the  loom ;  have 
witnessed  him,  in  the  face  of  every  obstacle,  fitting 
himself  for  college ;  and,  having  finished  his  academic 
course  with  honor,  we  have  seen  him  appointed  tutor 
in  the  University;  and  afterwards,  for  forty  years, 
becoming  identified  with  all  that  was  best  in  the 
educational  interests  of  the  city. 

There  might,  perhaps,  have  been  a  portion  of  this 
period  when  his  character  appeared  too  austere;  if 
any  one  ever  thought  so,  they  would  have  seen  that 
character,  with  advancing  age,  rounding  into  beau- 
tiful harmony.  As  he  grew  older,  he  became 
younger.  The  cares  and  anxieties,  which  pressed 
upon  him  in  his  earlier  days,  passed  away,  and  the 
more  genial  element  shone  forth  with  unclouded 
brightness. 

"  Be  sure,"  said  Southey,  "  no  man  was  ever  dis- 
contented with  the  world  who  did  his  duty  in  it." 
Mr.  Sherwin,  by  his  very  fidelity  to  duty,  became  not 
only  himself  more  cheerful,  but  imparted,  beyond 
question,  increased  happiness  to  others. 

10 


74 

And  while  zealously  fulfilling  his  various  duties, 
with  Faith  he  embraced  joyfully  the  great  Future. 
Earth  became  associated  with  Heaven,  and  the  light 
of  revelation  shed  its  beams  over  the  whole  of  exis- 
tence. He  recognized  God  through  all  nature,  and 
Providence  through  all  history.  These  convictions 
were  an  indissoluble  part  of  his  life,  —  an  essential 
essence  of  his  being,  illuminating  every  thought,  and 
sending  the  radiance  of  immortal  promise  into  bound- 
less eternity. 

Teachers  of  Boston,  honor  forever  the  associate 
who  so  loved  the  duties  to  which  you  are  devoted. 

Graduates  of  the  High  School,  hold  in  grateful 
remembrance  the  teacher  who  so  endeared  himself 
to  every  generous  heart. 

Citizens  and  friends,  one  who  stood  in  the  fore- 
most rank  of  representative  men  has  passed  away, 
but  his  influence  will  remain  as  long  as  his  memory 
endures,  and  his  memory  will  live  while  there  are 
minds  to  appreciate  real  worth. 

In  the  language  of  the  ancient  Scripture,  "  Light, 
and  understanding,  and  wisdom,  and  knowledge, 
and  an  excellent  spirit,  were  found  in  him."  May 
the  same  spirit  animate  us  all  to  emulate  an  example 
so  noble. 


